stitching ribbon on a quilt - will it work?

[mellybelly81]

hi everyone

I want to do a monopoly quilt for my dad and have been doing the maths. Unless I make a bed size quilt (I only want to do lap size) the black border between the properties (sorry I don't have a pic to show what I mean)will be tiny and I will go mental trying to cut and sew something like that. So my thought was to get some 3/8" ribbon and sew it on, but I'm worried it will pucker or shrink weird to the quilt fabric. Do you think it would work? Any other ideas?

[Eamea]

I'm concerned about the durability of the ribbon.  Will it shred at the seams over time?

What if you cut a 3/4" strip of black fabric, sewed onto that, and then trimmed down to fit?  You wouldn't have to mess with tiny pieces that way since you're sewing onto a larger strip assembly line style and then cutting them apart.  Sorry, it's the only thing I can think of.

[mellybelly81]

thanks for the idea. I was more worried about the ribbon shrinking differently to the fabric and making is go all warped, I didn't even think about the ribbon durability. Hmmmm. I prob wasn't clear before, I was thinking of appliquing the ribbon over the seams, not actually sew it in to the quilt, but I think the issues would be the same. Maybe I should stop being a perfectionist and just make the borders wider? Would a 1 1/2" strip (1" finished) be insane? (for the size I was planning I calculated over 50' of ribbon)

[JeanC]

Look for a flat braid or fusable narrow bias strip (available packaged from Clover I think).  You could use the couching foot on your machine to apply the braid.  The bias strip can be fused the zigzag stitched for durabilty.  Both of these are used when doing stained glass techniques in quilts.

Keep in mind that this may be something you want to handle carefully so it won't need washing often.  I definitely recommmend a wall hanging.

[mellybelly81]

thanks JeanC

[sloth003]

I did this on a quilt for  a friend a few years back. I used the satin ribbon as an appliqué outline. I used a narrow zig zag and haven't heard of any problems.

And to kill two birds with one stone. I sandwiched then pinned on the ribbon and. Used it as the quilting.

[Eamea]

Would a 1 1/2" strip (1" finished) be insane?

Crazy?  Sure.  Insane?  Nah. 

[Eowynt]

I appliequed ribbon to a sailboat quilt awhile back - the ribbon was the mast for the sails - without a hitch.  If you are worried, applique a scrap of the ribbon to a scrap of the fabric, wash it, and see what happens.  You could even experiment with different ribbon.

[mellybelly81]

thanks! Both for the assurances that ribbon could work and that 1 1/2" strips aren't insane

[cmoore]

If you're doing straight lines you can just make a piping.  It will look neater and be the easiest of all possibilities. The other possibility is to make pressed bars which were popular a number of years ago for celtic quilts. In that case you just sew a piece of fabric lengthwise and press it with the seam at the back and applique in place. Make sure you cover the raw edges at the ends of the tubes in that case. They also used to sell rolls of cotton ribbon with fusible web on the back for these quilts, but these were quite expensive.