right on, ribbon!

Last week, I was working on a Market Tote in some very wonderful retro-prep Lilly Pulitzer fabric and I had a moment where I realized it needed a little something to really push it over the edge--you know, give it some real prep gravitas.  What better to give it that oomph than a snippet of grosgrain ribbon?  It did the trick.  I often forget about ribbon, though I love it dearly.  Like paprika, ribbon makes everything better.

So, in a turn of ribbon serendipity, I stumbled upon a type of ribbon that is entirely new to me only days after my Market Tote revelation.  In my last post, I discussed my love of narrative fabrics.  Well, how about narrative ribbon?  Farbenmix is a German brand, previously unknown to me but clearly quite famous.  I have always loved woven ribbon with animals or some other repeated motif, but these designs from Farbenmix are just so detailed.  The lovely Petra of Chickadee Supplies has recently moved to the US from Germany and has an excellent selection of this ribbon in her sweet Etsy shop.  Take a look at this Helga the Happy Owl ribbon, for instance.  I feel like you could build a whole bedtime story around the conversation the two little birdies are having while Helga swoops overhead.  Thanks to Petra,  I now have this wonderful Little Red Riding Hood ribbon coming my way.  I am thinking of a little girl's handbag in red polka dots, with this ribbon as trim.

The moral of the story is, sometimes fun little details make all the difference.  Happy crafting!