12 Days of Gift Wrapping: Curling Ribbon Tip

12 Days of Gift Wrapping: Curling Ribbon Tip

I’ve been obsessed with curling ribbon since I was a kid. I tried and tried to curl fabric ribbon and paper strips by rolling them up around my pen or pencil. (That doesn’t work so well, by the way.) And then I learned there was specific ribbon for curling purposes.

The key to making it all fluffy: don’t curl your ribbon after you tie it to the box – do it before you tie.

Tie one (or two, as shown) pass of ribbon around your gift as you typically would, leaving a few inches of ribbon to tie your gift tags, etc.

Cut several lengths of curling ribbon, anything over 18 inches. Be generous. I like to use about four or five pieces. Curl each ribbon piece just as you would, with the edge of your scissors. You should have a curlicue mess right now.

After you curl the ribbons, take one piece, hold one end in your left hand, hold the other in your right. Bring the ends together, hold them in one hand. Find the center (like folding sheets) with your free hand. Fold the ribbon again by bringing the center to the ends.

Now… you tie the center of that mess of curled ribbons to your gift. Repeat with the other pieces of ribbon.

If you can hold all your ribbons while folding the other pieces, you could fold up all your pieces first and then tie at the end.

Reorganizing the Ribbon Stash

I had a quick project to finish using ribbons, so of course, I reached for my ribbon bin. I didn’t have to do much to open the lid; it practically popped open by itself… like one of those trick cans with the springy snake! And here’s why:

Umm... can we say mess?

Boing! You’re laughing, right? Tell me you are… please. Well, it bugged me enough that I felt compelled to do something about it. I know lots of crafters use ribbon racks, boxes with grommets for their ribbons, or even curtain rings as ribbon holders. Instead, I had visions of mini fabric bolts in mind.

Turning ribbons into mini fabric bolts

I thought I’d cut pieces of cardstock, or try to find little scraps to use as my “bolt center”, but I grabbed a box of tags. Perfect. With a little adhesive on a tag, I tacked down one end of ribbon and just kept turning.

Ribbons stash is tamed

Voila! Much nicer. I also wound up some leftover fabric strips that can be used for projects or gift wrapping. (I know I’ll never make that crazy quilt.) And, underneath all that stuff, I found some more ribbon and fibers still on their packaging. Used, I’ll have you know… not still with the tags and taped up.

Got a storage idea to share? I’d love to hear from you.

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