Search This Blog

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Korker Ribbons

Oops... I forgot to blog last night!   Well to make up for the late post, today I'm giving away a state secret!
How to make Korker ribbons, to use for decorations or bows!
Firstly, you'll need grosgrain ribbon, and quite a lot of it.
You'll also need a few lengths of dowel, short enough to fit in your oven.  You can either buy a pack of 30cm long dowels from spotlight, or go to a hardware store and get a length of 6mm dowel, and cut it down yourself.
You will also need either all steel, or glass headed dressmaking pins.
To make the ribbon curl, pin the end of your grosgrain to one end of your dowel.
Start wrapping the ribbon tightly around the dowel, taking care to not overlap it.
Once you reach the end, pin the end in place, and snip off ribbon.
Repeat for as many dowels you have, mixing and matching colours as desired.
Run the ribbon wrapped dowels under the tap to wet them, and then pop them on a rack in the oven, set at 150 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes.
Pull your ribbon sticks out of the oven using tongs (they'll be hot!), and place in a safe spot to cool.
Remove your pins, and unwrap the ribbon from the dowels. 
Voila! Korkered ribbons! :)
To turn these little beauties into hairbows, cut the ribbons into 3 inch lengths. Tie them in the centre with a bit of hat elastic or similar.
Fluff up the korkers as desired, and add a hairclip to the back!  (I like to line mine with grosgrain to stop them being slippery, but that's another story for another day!)
BTW: The colours I've used here are North QLD Cowboys colours, but these bows look great in any colours at all!
You can also use the ribbons like I have on the fairy wands.
Bows like this make for great gifts as well, for little girls, and not-so-little-girls that are little girls at heart :)
x Rita

5 comments:

Seck said...

Didn't know that ribbons can go into oven as well. :)

Rita said...

They are fine in the oven just keep it below 180 degrees Celsius. This also works with satin ribbon, but satin doesn't hold the curl quite as well. Try it, it's addictive! And I know that you've got plenty of ribbons!

Rita said...

And for anyone that's interested in buying gorgeous ribbons, click on Seck's comment above to get linked across to her online store, summer ray. She sells gorgeous ribbons at great prices! I have always been very impressed with the quality of ribbons that I have bought from her :)

Sewandthecity said...

This is lovley, thank you so much for sharing the secret...I was looking at a hair clip for my three year old and I guess i will be making one with korker ribbons.
Irina

Rita said...

Thanks for stopping by! The korker ribbons also hold their shape even after they've been wet, so you don't have to be fussy with handling them afterwards. They look great when you're really generous with the ribbon, the bow that I showed has about 15 x 2 1/2 inch curled sections, tied together in the centre. Anywhere between 15 and 25 looks great. Good luck with it! :)