50 Ribbon Rosettes and Bows to Make: Review

50 Ribbon Rosettes and Bows to Make

For perfectly wrapped gifts, gorgeous hair slides, beautiful corsages and decorative fun

By Deanna Csomo McCool

Search Press 2014

Paperback, £10.99

ISBN 978-1-78221-200-3

Star rating: ****

The autumn craft-a-lanche of pre-Christmas craft titles has arrived. There’s so much quality stuff to choose from, it’s difficult to decide which title to feature...

Today’s spotlight is on a fun and useful ribboncraft title. My logic is that you can keep it in mind when visiting the autumn batch of consumer craft events – go shopping with particular projects in mind so you can selectively stock up on your ribbon stash.

This book is exclusively about textile ribbon techniques – no look-in for paper ribbons or giftwrap ribbons (such as curling ribbon). Having said that, textile bows make fabulous embellishments for papercraft projects, particularly giftwrap treatments –  the author is aware of this and gives it a mention, citing project suitability for papercraft designs where appropriate (example: #30 Round and Round Bow – a fan-shaped creation).

Clip-mounted hair bows and embellished hairbands are a particular strength of this book, not surprising, since the author’s ribboncraft credentials stem from her highly-successful hair bow business. There are good tips for attaching bows to clips and for customizing plastic hairbands. You will also find pew bows (if wedding decs are on your personal agenda), and stemmed flowers and leaves – great for home dec. One of my favourite bows is #12, The Two-Colour Twisted Boutique Bow, a nifty party trick – one bow, diff colour each side.

A pictorial gallery of bows is featured up front – your select-a-bow guide. Each bow is accompanied by clearly-drawn step-by-step illustrations and detailed how-tos. Required ribbon widths and quanities are provided for each bow design. Although this book is most suitable for bowcraft beginners, even those more experienced in ribboncraft are sure to pick up a few new tips and techniques. 

The bows featured in this book are ideal for production crafts, if you are thinking about making gifts- to-give or participating in a pre-Christmas craft fair. 

Since my blog is The Papercraft Post, here’s a list of bows in the book that could be adapted to papercraft versions (using paper ribbon or hand-cut paper strips) without too much tweaking (in no particular order): #44 Aster, #26 Straight Loop Bow, #35 Whimsy Flower, #1 Shoelace Bow, #4 Bow Tie, #33 Finnish Snowflake, #34 Latticed Snowflake.

Note: I was provided with a review copy of this title.