sewing ribbon belts

here I am in a narrow belt of my Granny Squares on black.

I posted a while ago with that great photo of the mannequin at Vogue Fabrics wrapped in circles of ribbons around the waist, and today they wrote about me writing about them on the Vogue Fabrics blog. Occurred to me that I hadn't shown you the belts I have been making all fall.  Here they are on display at the TSA conference in Nebraska last month. (sorry the photo is so very yellow!)

To make a belt, I cut 1 1/4 yard (that is about 45") of ribbon, and select the same length of a coordinating grosgrain ribbon in the same width.  May Arts offers a great grosgrain ribbon in the 2.5" width, which is particularly hard to find.  (Most of my ribbons are 1 1/2" wide, and it is quite easy to find 1 1/2" grosgrain in a variety of colors) One could also back a belt with fabric, or with another coordinating LFN ribbon, of course.  I lay the ribbons back to back, and sew carefully down each side as close to the edge as possible. When that is done, I heat up my woodburner pen tool, lay a metal ruler across the end and cut carefully with the hot knife, which evens and seals the cut so that it will not ravel. Repeating on the other end, I then lap one end though the buckle about 2", fold it down and sew in place by machine.  I take it over to the ironing board and steam press it on the wrong side, using a medium heat setting.  Polyester ribbons will shrink rather dramatically from the application of direct heat so I don't press on the face of the ribbon, but a good pressing on the back makes it lay flat and gives it more suppleness.

Vogue Fabrics

Vogue Fabrics in Evanston & Chicago, IL has got to be my all time favorite fabric store.  I have been shopping at the Evanston store since I was in seventh grade and beginning to sew.  We would make pilgrimages up from the northern suburbs and pore over all manner of useful and exotic fabric, always being sure to hit the remnant room to collect an armload of bargains before heading home to the sewing machine.  I sewed addictively and it was sewing that led me to a life and career in textiles.

I was thrilled when they began carrying my line of artist's ribbons, which they still proudly label as "designed by hometown artist Laura Foster Nicholson" years after I decamped to southern Indiana.  Loyalty begets loyalty, I guess.

When I was at Crate & Barrel offices last week showing my new designs for next fall, one of the buyers told me that Vogue had displayed a wide range of my ribbons draped on a dress form in the window.  Here it is, with a reflection of Evanston in the background.  Thanks Katie!

Midsummer Tomatoes

Another cycle feels complete. Before I have picked a single red tomato from my garden, Crate & Barrel has brought out a new towel printed with my tomato design. This is based on my wonderful Tomato ribbon (the very first ribbon I designed!), which in its turn was based on the many tomato tapestries I have woven over the years. I love all of the products I design with Crate & Barrel (the whole process is so very much fun!) but this one feels special to me.

shopping for ribbons

This morning I mastered the art of inserting a new link into my website for ribbon shopping. As I noted in an earlier post, Renaissance Ribbons now is the exclusive wholesale distributor for my line of LFN Textiles Artist's Ribbons (leaving me free to design and dream and make my artwork). The website continues to offer a very small range of the ribbon in limited quantities, while I send most of my visitors on to the online retailers who carry my entire line. Vogue Fabrics, based in Evanston IL, is a fabulous fabric store that I have been shopping at since I first learned to sew around 1966. They have carried my full line of ribbon for some time and proudly support their "hometown girl" (though I have since moved to rural Indiana). Here is a link to their wonderful store, and you will find Laura Foster Nicholson ribbons in their very own section. I am so proud to be affiliated with Vogue Fabrics!

Click here to shop.