#26 Ribbon Weaving

#26: Ribbon Weaving
Almost finished: 7/1/12
Techniques: Weaving
Size: 16 x 15"

Description: OK, this is another late posting, and another quilt that wasn't quite done on time. But the only thing left was the binding and sleeve, so I don't feel too bad.

I've wanted to try a weaving technique, but didn't know how to best go about that with fabric. Should I use raw edged fabric, or make tubes of fabric so there would be no raw edges? But then I looked at my collection of ribbons that I've had forever, and decided to try it with those. I have a collection of ribbons in many widths - some are very wide as you can see. Some are satin ribbons, some are antique ribbons that my grandmother gave me, some are grosgrain ribbons, acetate, etc. I chose colors that I thought worked together and then just wove them in and out to create the design. Quilting was minimal by using a fancy machine stitch on a couple of the wider ribbons.

I worried that the ribbons wouldn't hold up to the stitching, fearing that they would snag or pucker, but that was not the case; the ribbons did very well when I used a ball point needle. I will say that the slipperiness of the ribbons was difficult to work with and the rows and columns are not even as a result, especially with the narrower ribbons. I would have to figure out a way to better anchor ribbons if I do another project like this one. Originally I was going to trying a different quilting method, possibly free motion or quilting some design, but when I was how slippery the ribbons were, I knew that wouldn't work.

Binding was done with ribbon too, but I didn't get a picture of that. I'll remedy that soon, as I get back on track.

On another note... this is #26 for the year! I'm half way through my year of mini-quilts! Where does the time go? I originally had thought I would run out of ideas for mini-quilts, and sometimes I did run low on inspiration, but always managed to rally! I still have a lot of fun doing this, so stay tuned!