La Mode: Fashion Club at UW: DIY: Rosettes

Rosettes are the perfect way to jazz up a plain outfit or to add a little girliness to your boring look! You can put them on jackets, scarves, headbands, shoes, and purses. Just be creative! Making rosettes out of ribbon, or an old strip of fabric, is super easy! There are a lot of styles of rosettes, but I’ll teach you a basic rosette shape that you can easily experiment with to create new looks.

1. Find a good material: Organza, silk, and brocade make very romantic rosettes while cotton or wool make a good, basic rosette. A 2-inch wide ribbon works well, and if you take a scrap of fabric you may want to sew right sides together and turn it inside out (as if you were making straps) to hide the raw edges. Experiment with different lengths for different looks. A good length to start with is 12 inches.

2. Stitch and Gather: Make a basting stitch down one side of the ribbon (or the middle for a different look). Then pull on the thread at one end, so that the ribbon gathers (or scrunches up in lay language).

basting stitch

3. Connect the edges: Stitch a secure knot where the two ends overlap into a circle. (hand sewing is always the easiest). Often times, you only have to sew the corners together on the side with stitches. This step really depends on how you want your rosette to look. Once you gather the ribbon, it will begin to look like a little flower, so you can use your instincts while finishing it up!

4. Add embellishment to finish it up: Sew a little button, bead, etc. to the middle of the rosette to add a little flair, if you want! Not all rosettes need something in the middle but it often improves the look a lot!