Show Ribbons Part 1

A very good friend from university days entrusted me with her prize show ribbons she has won for showing Clydesdale horses. Those are the really big ones, with the really big feet. My friend grew up on a farm and her grandpa and dad were both involved in showing/breeding and she loves it so has carried on the family tradition.

Liz gave me a laundry basket full of ribbons - there are 97 ribbons in there, almost 90 with rosettes.

I didn't quite expect this many, but it was fine. I set about taking them apart and ended up with a pile of rosettes and a pile of ribbons.

All the ribbons sorted by size and type (with writing and without)

Liz sent me a picture of a ribbon quilt she'd found online so I had an idea of what she was looking for - a star shape to start.

I decided I was going to paper piece it. I did some research online and I found a few people who do it two different ways - some do a zig zag and butt them together, and some piece like they were cotton with a 1/4" seam allowance. I opted for the 1/4" seam allowance because I liked the look of it a bit better and the sample image had been done that way.

I did a couple of mock ups and this one got approved.

(don't mind my feet there)

I drew out a lonestar shape on paper and got busy. There were a few snags, especially when cutting angles. I had very little wiggle room in my seam allowance because the ribbons were already a set size (2" width and I sewed at 1.5" width). I'm a decent paper piecer, mostly because I cut my fabric much bigger than it needs to be so I have lots of room when pressing. I also found that I couldn't iron the ribbons like cotton - they could melt (and some did a little) and once there was a seam in them, if I ripped out the seam, the needle holes showed and wouldn't disappear. Wetting the ribbons resulted in a water stain. This added some complication (and a little swearing once in awhile) but I got it together. I used a size 70 needle and grey aurifil thread.

I'm almost totally finished - I'll post more picts soon.