I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas this year! It is always hard to believe how fast it comes and goes. Then we have the chore of taking down all our Christmas decor. Ugh! I am one to leave mine up until after New Year’s to enjoy it longer. How about you? I wanted to get this post up before Christmas but ran out of time! Realistically though, learning how to make DIY wired ribbon is a skill that you could use all year long in decorating and gift wrapping, not just at Christmas time. 🙂

The reason I decided to make my own ribbon was because I could not find the right coordinating ribbon to go with my plaid decorating theme. Yes, I am one of those people who like to coordinate everything. 😉 I had some leftover fabric after making some Christmas pillows so I attempted to make DIY wired ribbon. This was really much easier than I thought it would be!

*There are links to products in this post that I use or are similar to products I use. If you buy something from one of these links, I may make a small commission (with no additional cost to you) from the purchase. I will not recommend anything that I would not buy myself.

For this project you will need:

• 1 yard fabric of your choice (I found my plaid fabric at Hobby Lobby)
• 24-26 gauge wire
• Wire Cutters
• Sewing Machine
• Pins
• Sewing gauge
• Iron
• Cutting mat, rotary cutter and 24″ ruler – this is optional, you can just use scissors to cut your fabric but this makes cutting fabric so much easier!

The first thing you will want to do is cut your fabric into 3″ strips. I just cut mine along the cut edge of the fabric (not the selvage edges) so my strips ended up being about 3″ x 44″ in size. This worked out perfect for the way that I put my ribbon on my tree. I usually cut the ribbon into 3-4 foot lengths anyway. 

I wanted my finished ribbon size to be 2.5″ in width so I figured on a 1/4″ seam allowance on both sides. Next I ironed down each side using a sewing gauge set at a quarter inch.

You don’t need a sewing gauge, you can just eyeball it but it helps to start you out at the right size. I usually just eyeball it after I get started. 

Cut a length of wire a little longer than your piece of fabric and straighten it out.

Insert the wire into the fold and pin it down.

I only used the pins at the beginning of my strip because as you go along it gets easier to hold down the wire in the fold. In fact, after a few strips I wasn’t pinning anything anymore and was faster than when I started. Sew down the seam making sure the wire is always nestled into the fold completely so you do not hit it with your needle. 

After you sew both sides, cut off the excess length of wire.

Fold over the ends by a quarter inch and sew them down. Make sure to back stitch at the beginning and end. 

That is it! Easy, right? Now you have some pliable ribbon that you can use for your tree, wreaths, gift wrapping or whatever you can think of! 

Have a safe and Happy New Year!