Shelly Ribbon Rose from Crochet Bouquet

The Artful Ribbon by Candace Kling is gasp-worthily beautiful and full of good advice about making flowers and greenery with ribbons. I recommend it highly for the excellent instructions and diagrams as well as for the inspiration.

The Artful Ribbon inspired the crocheted Ribbon Roses on pages 67-68 of Crochet Bouquet. My thinking was that a ribbon rose is made from a long, skinny piece of fabric, so why not make a ribbon rose from a long, skinny piece of crochet?!

A member of our Crochet Bouquet Crochet Along group on Ravelry asked for help in constructing the rose, so here are some step-by-step photos:

Ribbon Rose from Crochet Bouquet

Follow the instructions on page 67 or 68 of Crochet Bouquet to make the long, thin crocheted ribbon. Fold one end down at a 45-degree angle and tack it at the base of the crocheted strip.

Weave a length of yarn in and out of the base of the crocheted strip. The pattern recommends using a long end of yarn from the crochet. In this example, I used a contrasting thread, so you could see it better. Notice how the weaving is widely-spaced, going in at the base of one hdc, and out at the next one.

Ribbon Rose from Crochet Bouquet

Ribbon Rose from Crochet Bouquet

Wind the strip around the folded end to make a tightly-rolled bud. Tack the layers in place at the bottom of the roll.

Ribbon Rose from Crochet Bouquet

Ribbon Rose from Crochet Bouquet

Tighten the thread you wove through the base of the strip, to create gathers.

Ribbon Rose from Crochet Bouquet

Arrange the gathers around the central roll. Tightening or loosening the gathers will give different effects. I like to loosen the gathers close to the center, and tighten them around the edges.

Ribbon Rose from Crochet Bouquet

Tack the gathers in place at the bottom of the flower. Bring the end of the crocheted strip under the edge of the gathers (see the white arrow in the picture), and tack in place.

Even after you tack them, you can rearrange the gathers to some extent.

Ribbon Rose from Crochet Bouquet

If desired, add a leaf. The one shown here is the Corrugated Leaf.