DIY Ribbon Lei with Penga!

Penga is with us today to share a fabulous DIY Ribbon Lei!  These Ribbon Lei's are wonderful for many occasions, even the upcoming graduation events!  Here's Penga to tell you 

Eager to test out the ribbon-lei-making-method from Sak's mom, I added a small bead to the bottom of my really-long-thread as an anchor.  In retrospect, if one was planning on making a heavy-duty lei-to-last-a-lifetime, stronger thread (or even embroidery floss?) might work better. I have a feeling if you tugged on the lei hard enough, the thread would break and destroy all your hard work. Not that this has happened to me *yet*.

Continuing on, layer the 1/4" ribbon on top of the wider one, but keep it to one side.  Then do a simple running stitch down the length, as close to the edge as possible.

You can see that when you pull the string now, it will tighten the ribbon and create...a ruffly loop!

See where this is going? Just continue stitching up...

And scrunching down...

Until your lei is long enough!

I love this style, don't you? It's a little more sophisticated than the ribbon-loop version, however it takes much, much longer.  If you have a long running stitch setting on your sewing machine, it would be much faster than hand-sewing.

Breakdown:

~10 yards 1.5" ribbon 

~10 yards 1/4" ribbon

I plan to give this lei to my cousin since he's graduating from high school in a couple weeks. 

And just to show you what the first method looks like with two colors, here's another lei I made for a family friend of ours, graduating from my own high school alma mater:

I used the same method, alternating between two loops of red and two loops of blue to get the colors to bundle together.

And that's it for the graduation leis! Next year I will most likely return to this subject in overdrive, since that seems to be the big year for many of our relatives.

Be sure to check out more of Penga's work HERE!