Campanula Medium.After a bit of futzing around, I figured out a way to make these bell-like flowers, at least a stylized version of them. The answer lay in using wired ribbon that I could shape.
There are ribbon whizzes out there but I am not one of them. Still, the wired kind makes it pretty easy to get what you want.
Have a look!
I started by pulling the bottom wire to gather the base of the flower. This ribbon is 1 inch wide...these bells could be cool with much wider ribbon...
I actually threaded the wire into a needle and secured my gathering with it. Still (and this is not shown), I went over the gathering with some strong beading thread because it was hard to get the other end of the wire secure when I cut the ribbon.
The edges of this rayon ribbon sealed like a dream, leaving no charred blobs, just an edge that no longer raveled.
The same thread used in reinforcing the bottom was used to sew the edges together. Note that at the top, the edge is folded back.
The seam is along the side where it doesn't show. Using the same thread, the back edge of the bell is sewn onto the quilt. Yes, it made me a little nervous stabbing that beautiful smooth blue silk like that!
This is a different flower, but it shows the base being sewn down.
Then I just had to do a little "needle sculpting" to ooch and smoosh the ribbon into shape.
Next came the calyxes, using the last of my 7mm hand dyed ribbon called "Spring Leaf", by Vicki Day. I sure love her ribbon!!!!!!
Next came the stems in a split stitch. Mary Corbet has a nice video demonstrating this stitch here. This ribbon is from River Silks.And here are my bells!
I haven't added any leaves yet. Depending on how the quilt balances out, later I will know how "much" to add here.Next I'm going to concentrate on getting some of those seams covered with stitching...
...and thanks for the nice "welcome back", y'all! ;-)
31 comments :
Thanks for reminding me of Vicki Day! You are actually a ribbon aficionado - compared to what I've done lately. I'm soooo rusty. I couldn't figure out those campanas myself. These look great.
Love your bell, Allie. These are one of my favorite flowers, so thanks for the reminder to find some for the garden. How's the weather down your way?
I don't know anythng about gardening so I'm learning two things with each of your posts!
those are delightful bells. your work continues to astound me.
It is amazing watching you take these divine flowers and re-creating them in ribbon! Like Vicki W, I don't know anything about gardening and many of these flowers I've never seen before. So this is a real visual treat for me!
Another great interpretation!
Beautiful! And so original! I have to share this post with my readers!
Denise
http://needlework.craftgossip.com
If you didn't love those flowers so much you would never be able to figure out how to recreate them in thread, fabric, and ribbon. This is beyond anything I've seen in anyone else's work. It is so great of you to share them and their method of creation with us. This will be one amazing quilt!
Love your sister's sitting room! You are both so pretty and so
creative. What a family!
This is Granny Fran, Google isn't recognizing me again...
I love the bells and poppies!!
Watching your quilt bloom has been awe inspiring!!
Can't wait to see what's next!!!
Allie,
Your art just blows me away, every time. Beautiful, wonderfully creative you are such an inspiration. Thanks so much for sharing so much of you.
Nice to see you back!
You can deny that you are sisters, btw.
The new flowers in your quilt are very nice. How come I seem to be the only one unable to grow California popies? Yours are beautiful.
Allie, Thanks for such a wonderful blog! I am currently using your instructions on how to paint some white lace flowers to add to my first CQ! Am going to use a few of your other techniques for some flowers also. Thanks again, your so inspiring! :-)
Rebecca
great job! they turned out beautifully.
You need a Zapper. It's a cautery tool that beaders use to melt the ends of the thread into a neat little blob. I use it to burn fabric all the time.It's very precise, & not as dangerous as a candle (which I sometimes use too, if I don't have batteries for my Zapper tool).
Your flowers are perfect. I love the thread painting you did in the earlier post too.
Ooooh Allie, they are just beautiful, I'm headed to get some ribbon and try it right now:)
HUGZ:)
Stunning, Allie. Your creativity never ceases to astound me.
You're the best!!! love the way you recreate flowers.
Deepa
I always heard that RiverSilks were "tougher" and won't fray as much...it looks like that was the case here with all the split stitch. Did you like working with it?
These are gorgeous! Patience makes perfect!
Amazing. Simply amazing. And did you just HAPPEN to have that pink wired ribbon in your stash? I'm speechless with awe.
These are beautiful Allie! Thanks for showing us how you created these gorgeous flowers.
Your ribbon flowers are beautiful.
I think these are my all-time favorite ribbon flowers that I've ever seen, especially with your needle sculpting and the way you made the calyxes! Way to go!!!
Such wonderful flowers! Thank you for teaching how to make the ribbon flowers, I have been curious about that for a long time. Now I will give it a try!
Those are beautiful!
Thank you so much Allie !!!! I love your Canterbury bells!!!! I also didn't know you could seel ribbon by burning it!!!! VBH Debby L
I was on a island in Estonia and there were many Canterberry bells. I like these flowers! Now I will stitch these. Thank you!!!
Gosh, Allie. These are sooo pretty! I never come to your website that I'm not amazed at the beautiful things you do.
I'd love to have some originals of the flowers blooming around here! I've never seen them before.
Thanks, Allie - I'll add this to my "you gotta try these" list!
I love these so much! I know I'm a little late to the party, but I'll be linking to these in todays Weekend DIY Roundup.
Allie, You are a genius! I still wanna be you when I grow up! :o) Well okay.. I will never grow up.. but you know what I mean. I love the Canterbury Bells. I was just contemplating my Angel's Trumpets for the same reason but my brain has not figured it out yet. This inspires me!
thanks for the information, my wife love to make crafts and things similars to this, I know that when she see this, I gonna end in the shop buying all the accessories and stuffs she need to make this jajajaja.
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