How to Make Ribbon Out of Fabric 

Once you’ve found the perfect unique gift, how do you wrap it in a way that’s just as special? Making your own ribbon from fabric adds a customized handmade touch in just a few steps. Follow along as Lisa Cartrette of Bashful Birdie shares how to make DIY ribbon two ways: with a sewing machine and a no-sew option. Have a lot of fabric on hand you’d like to use to up your gift game? Learn six furoshiki techniques for wrapping presents with fabric!

When I’m shopping for gift wrapping supplies, I’m often left empty handed because none of the options are just right for my aesthetic (or they’re covered in glitter). Therefore, I’m going to show you how you can make your own custom fabric ribbon to adorn your wrapped gifts, make bows or anything else you can think to do with ribbon. As with most DIY projects, it will take more time to make your own ribbon than it will to buy it. However, the reward of making your own is greater—you’ll have something unique to not only you, but also your unique gift wrapping vision.  

The options are seemingly endless when it comes to choosing the perfect fabric for your ribbons. (Especially when you can upload your own designs to create extra-one-of-a-kind ribbon!) My only suggestion is to choose a design that has a small scale or a motif repeat small enough to fit within your desired ribbon width. For example, the fabric I chose for this tutorial has a repeating pattern with 2” vertical stripes of trees. This particular width made it simple for me since I wanted 2”-wide ribbons.  

I made my ribbon pieces about 3 yards long by sewing three strips together. Since this is a DIY, you can make your ribbon as long as you want depending on what you want to use it for. If you want to make just enough ribbon for wrapping a gift, you can use a string or piece of yarn and tie that around your gift, making a bow and making sure you have your tails as long as you want them. Use that piece of string or yarn to determine how much ribbon you’ll need to make. 

Once you’ve determined how much ribbon you’ll need, given the length of your fabric, you’ll be in one of two camps: a) either your fabric is already long enough as is, making this a very short tutorial, or b) your fabric is not long enough to make the length of ribbon you require and the fabric strips will need to be connected together.  

If the length of your fabric is long enough to wrap your gift or do your intended project and:  

If your fabric isn’t long enough and you’ll need to connect shorter fabric strips to create your ribbon:

If your fabric strips aren’t long enough for your project, you’ll learn two ways below to attach the strips together to create ribbon for whatever length you might need. 

Using a sewing machine or serger? Cut your fabric strips using a rotary cutter or scissors anywhere from 1” to 2” wide. (However, since this is a DIY project, you can make wider ribbon if you’d like!)

For the no-sew option, cut the strips with a set of pinking shears. You can mark off your lines with an air erasable marker.

I chose fabric designs featuring motifs with 2” vertical strips; therefore, to make this simpler, I’m cutting along each vertical line that appears in the fabric every 2 inches. I’m making one of my ribbons double sided, so I chose a coordinating solid color fabric and am also cutting a 2” vertical strip. 

If you’re sewing strips of fabric together to make your ribbon, place two strips right sides together at a 90-degree angle. You’ll be connecting the ends of two strips of fabric to create a longer strip of fabric. Be sure that the bottom fabric has been placed design side up and the perpendicular fabric on top has been placed design side down, so that the two fabric pieces have the right sides touching.

Create a 45-degree angle at the corner by finger pressing the line to seam as shown above. Then sew a straight line from corner to corner on the seam you just finger pressed.

After sewing the seam, trim off the triangle of fabric.

Continue to make a fabric strip using the steps above until it’s as long as you need it to be.  

Using the steps above, make another fabric strip that’s the same length as the first strip. 

Place and pin your fabric strips wrong sides together.

Adjust your needle to sew a stitch 1/4″ from the edge of the fabric.

Sew all the way down the long side of the strip. Then sew all the down the other side of the strip.

When you’ve finished your ribbon, depending on the look you’re going for, you can either keep your new ribbon as is, or wash and dry this strip to get a fun fray on the sides.

Once you have two strips of fabric both in your desired length, you’re ready to move on to the step below.

First, adjust the settings on your serger so that the threads are close together and the width of the stitch is the smallest. You can take a few scraps and test the settings until you like the results.

Next, place your fabric strips wrong sides together.

Serge one long side of your ribbon.

Then serge the other long side of your ribbon and you’re done!

With pinking shears, cut out your fabric strips.  

Use hem tape or cut a piece of iron-on adhesive that’s about 1/4″ tall and roughly the width of your ribbon.

Place the piece of adhesive you just cut out on the top of the ribbon, design side up. Iron down the adhesive for the amount of time it says on your adhesive instructions. 

Once it has cooled down, peel off the backing and place the other piece of ribbon on top. Iron down the two joined pieces for the amount of time it says on the adhesive instructions. Allow the joined pieces to cool down before using. 

Your custom ribbon is done! I loved pairing my new ribbon with a neutral wrapping paper and making quick little doodads to decorate my gifts. Something attached to a wrapped gift, that can be used again either as an ornament or hung on the wall, is always a bonus. I love when the wrapping feels as special as what’s on the inside!

Now that you can make your own ribbon, nothing can stop you from always having the best decorated gifts. You can even use your ribbon to make bows to tie on wreaths, trees, bouquets or anything else you can think of. Use scraps left over from your DIY gifts to coordinate your gift wrapping to the gift inside! Scan in kids drawings to create your own fabric ribbon designs to use for decorating family gifts. Have a very specific need for a ribbon featuring snails with baubles for shells? Spoonflower has so many designs and the ability to upload your own design, so you can always make that perfect ribbon you’ve always wanted.