Ribbon Pleating Tutorial

OK, so this is a layout I taught in a class recently and one of the techniques on it is the ribbon pleating which can, of course, be done on layouts or cards and adds a nice bit of detail and texture. I've found what seems to be a quick little technique for doing this that I thought I'd share...

First, the best thing about this technique is that you really only need some ribbon and glue dots to do this. I recommend a slightly weighted ribbon so that you're not fussing with it too much. If you use something like taffeta, you'll just have to play with it a little more, but it most certainly can be done.

You're just going to fold over the size of the pleat you want and put the glue dot as close to the outer edge as you can get it. Once you've done that, I just finger press the ribbon a little, but I prefer not to completely flatten it since the reason I like this technique is that it gives some dimension.

Next, you're going to put another glue dot just under the top piece of ribbon to help keep things neat and so that it doesn't pop up on you when you're trying to do more pleats.

Then, you're just going to pick up the ribbon again and fold it into the size of pleat you want and put another glue dot under the outer edge where you want the pleat to go (what would be the right side of the pleat in this picture). Here you can see where I left the glue dot under that edge and then you'd finger press again and put another glue dot under that left piece that's up.

***Fold your ribbon and lay it where you think you want it to check the size of the pleat before you add the glue dot. I don't mind my pleating to be different sizes, but if you're worried about making the pleats the same, check before you glue dot!

In this picture, you can see that I put a magnet on the right side of this since it's not adhered to a page or anything. If it's going on something, you can at this point either start putting glue dots under it to get it to stick on the bottom or I actually use the double sided Sookwang tape. The Therm-O-Web Permanent SuperTape works as well. The tape is nice because you put a strip down and then just keep pressing the ribbon against it as you get it where you want it.

Things to try:

- rather than using glue dots, you can actually sew the pleats down by machine or by hand

- you can use staples to adhere for a funkier look

- play with different kinds of ribbon and you'll soon find your favs for this technique!

- use a ruler to measure the folds as you do them if you want them all exactly the same

Well, hope this helps those of you that might want to play with this a little! I know this is one of those things that I love playing with and the more you do it, the easier it gets!

Cheers,