Cascading Christmas Ribbon Tutorial

This year I used Christmas ribbon in both of my trees and I tried out a new technique for me.  The ribbon just sort of cascades down the tree.  This is how you do it.

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STEP ONE: THE RIGHT RIBBON

Choosing the right Christmas ribbon for this technique makes all the difference in the world.  The ribbon must be wired and good quality, but not too thick.  The red and gold ribbon I used in the family room was the best.  It is wide and wired and holds it’s shape beautifully.  I bought it at a decorator’s store years ago.  My Hobby Lobby ribbon was okay, but not the best.  While it is wired, it does not hold it’s shape very well.  Finally, I also used some very high quality ribbon from Holiday Warehouse, but it was super thick and didn’t hold it’s shape as well.  I ended up layering the Hobby Lobby ribbon and the Holiday Warehouse ribbon and they were okay, but by far the red and gold ribbon on the family tree was the easiest to work with.  So, my advice here is to choose a high quality, wired ribbon that is not too thick to hold it’s shape.

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STEP TWO: FOLD THE RIBBON

Make four folds or loops straight down your ribbon like pictured.  I generally used four, but you could do more or less.

STEP THREE: CUT THE RIBBON

I know it’s scary, but you are going to have to cut your ribbon.  It will all be okay, though.  Leaving enough of the ribbon for your tail, cut your ribbon from the spool.  I used a V cut.  To do this I just folded the ribbon in half where I was going to cut it and cut at an angle.

STEP FOUR: SPLIT THE TAIL

This might be my favorite part.  Just cut straight up your ribbon in the top of your V splitting the ribbon down the middle for a few inches.  You just want enough to make the ribbon curl on both sides.

STEP FIVE: CURL THE TAIL

Just curl both ends of the ribbon around your finger.  I love this look.  It worked perfectly with this ribbon, but was much harder with the thicker ribbon.

STEP SIX: PUT YOUR RIBBON IN THE TREE

This is what your ribbon should look like when you take it over to your tree.

You just want to find a spot in the tree where you can nestle the ribbon in.  Most of my ribbon starts between two branches and cascades down several rows of branches at an angle. You may push the top of your ribbon further back into the tree.  There is less room at the top of my tree between the branches than there is at the bottom, so the ribbon sort of spreads out more at the bottom.  You’ll just have to work it into the tree and see where you think it looks the best and fills in a hole.

This tree sort of evolved over time and I didn’t put my ribbon on this red and gold tree until I had most of the ornaments and picks already on the tree.  With the white and red tree, I put the ribbon on before most of the decorations.  You can do it at any time.

Here is my red and gold ribbon.

Here is my white and red layer ribbon.

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