The final decorations inspired by Comme des Garçons simply let you go wild with a hot glue gun and some ribbon. So while we’ve used polka dot and velvet ribbons in classic CDG monochrome and red, you could easily switch to other ribbons that you have left over from other projects. You can see other Rei Kawakubo inspired fashion baubles in this post.
Equipment:
- Rotary Cutter (How To Start Sewing, Chapter 22)
- Protective Mat (Chapter 22)
- Fabric Shears (Chapter 3)
- Hot Glue Gun.
- Paintbrush.
Fabric / Materials / Trims:
- Styrofoam baubles in assorted sizes.
- 25 mm wide polka dot grosgrain ribbon.
- 10 mm red velvet ribbon.
- 9 mm wide black organza ribbon.
- Sequin pins about 13 mm long.
- Adhesive pearls.
- Acrylic paint.
Polka Dot Ribbon Baubles
Step 1: Paint Base Coat
As an optional starting step, you may like to paint your baubles first with a base coat in the same colour as your ribbon. This ensures that the white of the bauble won’t show through between any gaps in the ribbon. We’ve also painted some smaller baubles which will simply be painted and then covered with adhesive pearls. You may find that you need two coats of paint to get a good colour.
Step 2: Glue Ribbon to Bauble
You can cut lengths of ribbon and apply them in strips running from the top to the bottom of the bauble. If you are using a thin ribbon then you can simply overlap the strips as you work and pin the ribbon into place as shown in this video. However, due to the wide size of this polka dot ribbon, we instead cut out wedges of excess out of the ribbon before the ribbon was applied. You can then apply the middle of the ribbon over the middle of the bauble using hot glue, then smooth the ends of the ribbon towards the top and the bottom of the bauble. Work your way around the bauble until the whole bauble is covered.
We found that the top and bottom of the bauble got less bulked up, if you cut away the end of the ribbon at the top and bottom as you work. Otherwise, the ends of the ribbon build up into many layers and make it quite bulky.
Step 3: Add Bow and Hanging Ribbon
To neaten off the look at the top of the bauble, you can create a bow by folding wider ribbons into a bow shape that has been secured with hot glue. The bow was then pinned into place on the top of the bauble with sequin pins. In this case, additional organza ribbon was wrapped around the entire bauble and then knotted at the top to create the hanging loop. This also covered the messy bottom of the bauble.
Step 4: Add Adhesive Pearls
As a final step, you can add an extra dimension to your baubles with some adhesive pearls in assorted sizes.
Velvet Ribbon Baubles
Step 1: Cover With Velvet Ribbon
The design of these is to be intended to look like a mess of ribbon around a bauble, so you can really just start applying strips of velvet ribbon onto the bauble with a hot glue gun. It is also helpful to cut smaller strips to apply and layer into small areas so that the bulk of the ribbon doesn’t build up too much in one area.
Step 2: Add Bows and Loop
To finish off these baubles we then simply created little “bows” by knotting more of the velvet ribbon as shown. These bows can then by stuck into the bauble as needed (and to help cover up any messy areas). This bauble was just finished off with a short velvet ribbon loop.
Finished Ribbon Baubles
You will then have a range of ribbon baubles to use for decorating. You can see that the techniques used in this post are very simple and can be easily adapted to other designs and colours, or with added embellishment of your own.
