It's contest time LOVELIES!

In celebration of our 1700 fan achievement on Facebook we thought it would only be fitting to throw a little party with some free ribbon involved. How else would a ribbon maven celebrate really?

Answer the questions below and email them to us. You need to have all the questions answered correctly. When we recieve your email we will let you know if all your answers are correct or which ones are incorrect. Those submissions with all answers correct will be entered in the order recieved in our magic Excell data sheet. All answers must be recieved by Monday June 13th, 2001 11:59 pm central standard time.  On Tuesday June 14, 2011 we will use a random number generator and announce our winner right here on the AAR blog! Please email your answers directly to us at (contest over link removed) and we will do our best to get back to you quickly!

What do you win? Well thanks to our awesome fans of http://www.allaboutribbon.com/ on Facebook, the lucky winner will be choosing 29 yards of their choice from any of the ribbons we carry in lengths of 1 yard or more. You also will get a lovely assortment of a little bag full of some of my 5 yard favorite ribbons... and a snippet of the next three super top secret ribbon designs due out in the next month. DROOL!

 Ok, ribbon addicts start your engines! Let's win some RIBBON!  

1. Word Scramble: What is the name of my favorite fabric designer:

REHSRAEHSOT

Hint: 2 words, last summer this person ran the infamous cricket contest on their blog

2. Wendy’s favorite candy (Receive an extra point that can make up for wrong answer if you know my favorite manufacturer of this)

NEW HINT:  This was a status symbol for Aztecs and the Mayans.

3. What city is All About Ribbon located in?

4. How many years has All About Ribbon has been in business?

5. Which All About Ribbon ribbons would Wendy use to make a bow that supported her favorite NFL football team? (there are several right answers but your answer must contain the three colors needed, and one design element)

Project: Easy Appliqué Today

Easy Appliqué you say?

Could you make this in a house?

Can you make this with a mouse?

You could make this at any house.

You could even design a mouse!

Some people could even make a plane!

We made this perfect TRAIN!

It's pretty obvious that when you talk to a hair bow maker that the girls get all the goodies, and the boys... well, they don't really get their fair shake in this deal. I thought we better make a boy project before my son starts hiding my good scissors in protest!

There are few things in the world that Mr. Man loves more than Thomas the Train. Pizza is a tie only on good days, the rest the time Thomas wins. I found this fab fabric at a textile show and realized two things:

1. My son will love this

2. A project mommy makes with this will make me a Mommy HERO

Supplies:

Your choice of fabrics

Bias tape or other trimming

Heat and Bond (we used light weight)

Shirt or other clothing item

Sewing machine

Iron

Before getting started it is highly recommended to wash any fabric and clothing you are going to use. Different fabrics can and will shrink at different rates when washed. Better for it to do its thing before you put all the work into it and avoid all the tears!

First, go ahead and plug in your iron and get it nice and hot. Iron all the fabric you plan on working with. Now turn your iron temp down to a medium heat setting.

Now is a good time to evaluate when to apply your heat and bond to the fabric. Heat and bond will be the glue that is going to hold your fabric to your other fabric. The Heat and bond will also keep your fabric from fraying where it is applied. If you are cutting out an intricate shape or want your heat and bond to go right to the edge of your design then you will want to apply that to the fabric area you will be working with before cutting it out. We did this a little backwards in this project because our plan was to fray the edges of the rectangles, and rectangles are easy to cut out. We left a margin on the outer edge without heat and bond for decorative reasons. I am outlining my steps but feel free to flip this around to suit your needs.

Cut out your shape from the fabric that will be used on the top design. Place that shape on top of the accent fabric that will be underneath the main design. Cut out your second shape leaving the desired amount of the second fabric to frame and accent your top fabric.

Turn both shapes wrong side down on your table and cut out your heat and bond to fit the desired area. The heat and bond will have a paper backing on one side, and a textured gluey side on the other. Make sure the paper backing side is facing up and the texture side is facing the fabric. Follow your package instructions by ironing with no steam for a few seconds over your heat and bond area to achieve a good hold. Let the area cool for a bit until it’s not warm to the touch. The paper should easily peel off when properly adhered. If it doesn't, don’t fret, and don't force it. Just iron it a little bit more and try again. ONLY PEEL OFF THE PAPER FOR YOUR TOP FABRIC.

Place your top fabric with the paper peeled off in position on top of what will be your bottom accent fabric. Iron together.

Sew around the top design. We added our bias tape to frame our image during this step by placing it on the edge of the design and sewing in place.

Peel off the backing on the final shape. Iron to your clothing item. Stitch around the outside edge as desired to finish. If you are sewing into a knit remember to change to a ball point needle. We then frayed the edges of our accent fabric which as it washes will continue to get a soft frayed look to it.

Ta DA!

It was the sweetest thing. Mr. Man ran around all day telling everyone, "Look MOMMY made my THOMAS SHIRT!" Who could get a better Mother's Day present than that?

Always a Deal Always a Steal be a fan of All About Ribbon

Do you follow us on FACEBOOK ?


Do you follow us on TWITTER ?


Well, you should! Right now both feeds have a coupon code good for one week. Go stock up with bigger and better savings that we normally have during our regular sales!

If the early bird catches the worm, the fan catches the biggest savings!

Project: Fabulous Felt Flowers and more

Sometimes you have to admit you don't know everything. Some things I know nothing about. (don't you dare tell my children) Sometimes you have to take a page from some one else for some inspiration!

I bought some wonderful handmade felt flowers last weekend at our city market. They were upcycled felted flowers and the artisan graciously told me a tidbit or two about them. I was in love. I bought more than a handful of them, which my 3 year old promptly laid claim to on sight. Well, great now I have to figure out how to make ME some.

To the crafty friends to gave up their best links, and the author of the following blog instructions I used... ya all rock!

Please read through the link below from Aunt Peaches for all the in and outs of "how to"!

Friday Flowers: Making Sweater Felt in the Washing Machine

I am going to share some of my tidbits and tricks and before and afters for everyone! I have to tell you (shhhhh) I am having so much fun making these I want to give up ribbon... almost.

Aren't these the cutest little things!

First tip is when cutting sweaters apart its faster if you turn inside out, fold on the seam, and just cut the seam off leaving you the two panels. One cut to remove the seam saves you twice the time of cutting all the way down one side of the seam, then doing the same again.

Have your sweaters in pieces? FABULOUS! Throw them in your pillow cases. These are going to pill, fuzz, and freak out. You do really want that contained, and not wandering free in your washing machine. Seriously. For shaving the soap Peaches used a really wonderfully sharp looking knife. If you haven't learned anything about how things go around here sharp is generally bad. That's like an engraved invitation for an emergency room visit. Vegetable peeler... much safer. And pretty. I am considering putting a bowl of little soap curls in my office for fragrance.

Here's my little pillow case sweater army below. Yes, those are hair elastics holding them shut. I couldn't find a rubber band in my house with a gun to my head, but pony o's I can find! The hold really well in the washer too.

Here's a picture of the sweaters we started with in these bags. I bought 4 100% wool sweaters at the thrift store. All were $3.99 to $4.99, not bad. They were all interesting to me in different ways. A couple of them I just wanted to see what they looked like when they felted.

I followed the instructions and the green one only needed one washing to felt, the other three sweaters needed a second go in the machine to felt up. Here is what they looked like after felting! This little oatmeal sweater kept its ribbed look even with the felting!

You can see here what the finished felt looked like when we were finished, and we cut out some spirals to make our flowers. I thought they looks pretty nice like this, but I threw them back in the dryer to see how much they would really round out on each petal. I am so glad I did! I loved them even more! Below is a pic of before the go in the dryer, and you can see the rounded edges in the following pic where we started to glue our spiral into a flower.

For the green sweater I couldn't decide what do really do with them. I think sometimes simple is better. Aren't these the beautiful!

 LOVE love LOVE these! Heck and all i need to add is a little bling, a pin back or hair clip and my Mother's Day gifts are d-o-n-e!

Project: The Key to Key Fobs

Hot sellers and craft shows and easy peasy to make!

(Not to mention it’s a great way to use up short pieces)

Surprisingly simple even for those that have very little sewing experience.

Supplies:
1 1/4 heavy weight cotton webbing
Ribbon and matching thread (featured 7/8 motorcycle on orange available at All About Ribbon)
1 1/4 square nickel top key fob hardware
8" flat jaw welding pliers
Sewing machine
Heavy weight needles

First thread up your machine with thread that matches the ribbon you want to use on your key fob. Change your needle to the heavy weight sewing needle.

Cut your webbing to your desired length. We cut ours to 10 inches which is ideal for people like me with larger hands to slip their palm in, or for more petite people to use as a wristlet.

Line up your ribbon centered on the webbing and place under your sewing machines foot. Before starting I lower the needle partially so that i can get it fairly close to the edge of the ribbon while lining it up. Sew a straight line down your webbing.

Sew down the other side the same way.

Your webbing should look like this once you have sewn both sides. Trim up the threads at each end.

I also trim off each edge so that they don't fray during use.
Sew the two unfinished edges together about a 1/4 inch from the edge.

Line up your hardware covering the unfinished tip and use your welding pliers gently to partially clamp the hardware on (pic 1). Check your alignment and make any adjustments needed. Use your pliers again to apply enough pressure to completely clamp the hardware onto the webbing (pic 2). Add the key ring and your done!

Pro tip: When using your pliers add a piece of fabric to cover the hardware. This will help prevent any scratches or marks on the hardware.

We think that pappa ribbon is gonna love his new key chain before they bolt for their summer home. Oh, the hard hard life of being retired! (no worries, you all are stuck with me here for years and years and years...)

Special Feature Part 3: Price fixing (the legal kind)

Determining the price to sell your items at is always the subject of intense debate. Money is an emotional issue for most people but when you are selling something you physically make you are even more invested in the process of determining you pricing. There is no right or wrong way to determine what your product is worth but I am going to take you through the way I determine the price of a lot of my items for shows and local sales.

First determine how much you think you should make an hour. You are your own boss! You can overpay your self if you want. You also have no one to complain to if you underpay yourself. For example, I feel I should always make more than minimum wage based on my experience making bows for 3 yrs and my previous work history so for arguments sake I set my pay at $15 an hour.

For whatever item you are going to price out get your materials together in one space and get ready to work! Set a clock and see how long it takes you start to finish making one piece. It took us 5 minutes to make our bow to completion.

Now calculate how much your 5 minutes of time is worth.
$15 per hour divided by 60 minutes means that we are making $.25 per minute
Our labor costs for that item is $1.25

Now let’s figure our how much our product material cost is. You can factor in any expense like the method below by changing the numbers to whatever your cost is.
Clips: we paid 14.75 for 144 clips. $14.74 divided by 144 is .102 per clip or rounding up 11 cents per clip.
Ribbon: we paid 2.99 for 5 yards of ribbon. We used 22 inches. I round up to a full yard for usage which helps account for scraps and waste. 2.99 divided by 5 yards is .598 or 60 cents a yard
Glue sticks and thread are so small it is hard to cost out so I do not factor those into my pricing. If you add embellishments or anything else you want to factor those in as well.

Add the items below:
$1.25 Labor
$0.11 clip
$0.60 ribbon                  
$1.98 is your total production cost (not necessarily final cost)

Some people view this as their wholesale price, and then double the price to $3.92 for their retail price. I round my retail pricing up to $4.00 because it’s far easier to price it in even dollar bill numbers for craft shows. Because I also only take an elite market of wholesale customers my wholesale pricing in most cases is a set percentage off of my retail pricing instead of the production cost above. It takes time to develop both clientele and the "expertise" that I have and that to me is deserving of at higher percentage that stays with me.

Before I set my final pricing I also research both the product and the market.

Pricing Factors for your market
Are you selling this bow at a craft show? Ebay? Etsy? If you are you need to factor in the amount of time that you spend listing, fees incurred, time spent standing at a show, and any other expenses like gas, food or hotels.

Pricing factors for your product
Is your product unique in some special way? Are you the only one that has this product? Are you an expert? Have you developed a fan following that makes your items more in demand? If these make your product "elite" then you may be able to raise your price above your calculated price
How much is this product generally be sold for in your area in boutiques, brick and mortar stores, and online? You may need to adjust your price higher or lower to be competitive.

Hopefully that helps everyone start to have a working knowledge of how to price and item. The main reason to sit down and price each item is so that you do not feel like you are giving away your time for nothing. If you don't know how much you are really making it’s hard to determine your self worth (or argue with a spouse) and feel confident in your decision to craft for profit. Sure it’s easier to fly by the seat of your pants and hope you are making enough to be worth it but I love knowing that I can make however much money I want to by being in control of my little airplane!

Ritzy Ribbon Necklaces & Pendants

Brought to you by the lovely folks at Punch Place Plus! Pop on over and check out their fab supplies and great prices!

Ribbon Necklaces with Alta Cap Pendants

Supplies Needed

3/8” All About Ribbon printed ribbon

8mm beads (approx.)

Beading wire (approx. 10 pound test) or upholstery thread

Large eye needle

Tape measure

Scissors

Pliers

Lighter (or other method to seal ribbon)

Crimp beads

Bail

Super Glue (or E6000)

1” hole punch

1” photo images

1” resin drops

Alta-Cap (punchplaceplus.com)

Xyron sticker maker with permanent adhesive (glue stick might work too)

 

Ribbon

To begin you need to decide how long you are going to make your ribbon necklace sides and ties. I find that starting with 12” works well for me. You are going to be working off your roll of ribbon. If you use the same size bead each time you will get a feel of how much ribbon you will need. I use different size beads and make them different lengths, so I work from the spool. Seal the end of your ribbon.

Assembly

Thread your need with your beading wire or upholstery thread and knot.  12” in start your first stitch.

Pull almost all the way through. Add the crimp bead and push down over your knot.

Keeping the crimp bead over your knot, take your pliers and flatten (crimp). A regular knot will pull through the ribbon; the crimp cover keeps this from happening. Then use your pliers to cut off any excess wire.

I like then fold the ribbon making a 1/8” to 3/8” flap (this depends on the size of my bead) and stitch through it several times encasing the crimped crimp bead. Then begin to add your beads (shown in photos are actually dried beans from Ecuador). Make another flap at the end of your bead and stitch through it, add another and so on.

Beading
It usually works best if you plan out your beading prior to starting to add them. How many on each side, what size, which colors, placement of sizes & colors and so on.  Lay your beads on a kitchen or bathroom hand towel makes them easier to work with (and less time on the floor looking for run-away beads).

Continue sewing through your ribbon and adding beads. When you get to the center section of your necklace add your bail. If you have predetermined which is the top and which is the bottom of your necklace make sure you orientate your bail accordingly.

Finish beading and sewing your ribbon on the second part of your necklace. When you get to the end you need to make the last fold, knot your wire or thread (pull as tightly as you want for the look you want), add your crimp bead and complete as you started.

 

Last Tie

Measure from your last fold 12” and cut and seal your ribbon.

Knotting
If you have sewn your ends neatly and hidden your crimps as well you can fore go this step. I like the look and think it adds stability to the necklace so I knot mine.

Alta Cap Pendant

Punch out the image of your choice and run through your Xyron machine (or other permanent gluing method). Peal and stick image in the Alta Cap. Then peel your resin dot and adhere to the image.

Alta Cap Pendant

There are many fun uses for an Alta Cap. This shows how easy it is to make them into a pendant by simply using super glue (I like the gel) or your favorite permanent glue on the bail and press the Alta Cap into place.

And here is our finished project!

The combinations of what you can do with the various colors of Alta Caps, All About 3/8” ribbon and beads is endless!