Raffia, Rayon Ribbon Straw and Synthetic Straw Flowers

Loomed flowers made from ribbon straw hold their shape, so you can make all sorts of flowers that can’t be made with other materials. They are especially nice for stitching onto things like woven or crocheted straw carry bags.

Some types of straw hold their shape better than others so you might want to experiment to find out which ones work best.

If you want your flower to hold it’s exact shape mist it lightly with water or steam it carefully before taking it off the loom.

Leave it to dry completely before removing it.

	You’ll need some sort of rayon ribbon straw to make your flowers. Turabast, shown on the left is just one of the many vintage brands that was available in th 1960’s and 70’s.
	To make a catherine wheel wind your flower following the next five diagrams. I made one pink round on the outer pegs of my loom, followed by two yellow rounds in the inner pegs. Then I finished the centre with stem stitch in pink.


	Continue winding figure eights in this way until you have gone around your loom as many times as you like.
	To make this style of flower wind in figure eights as follows.


	Keep winding around your loom until you have worked two rounds. Finish with a stem stitch centre Straw can also be shredded to create a fuzzy fringe effect. To make this flower I wound my daisy the regular way, stitched an open centre, then cut the loops of the petals. To shred the petals stick a pin into the straw near the centre and pull towards the outer edge of the petal. The straw will split apart.