Ric Rac Ramblings

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you will have worked out that I love embellishments on my designs. One of my favourite things to use is Ric Rac braid. It is available in all sorts of colours and sizes and there are so many ways to use it.  But, how do you attach it???

Years ago, the only way we ever attached Ric Rac, was by sewing it straight down the centre by machine, and that is certainly still a very useful method:

If you look closely at the small pocket in the photo above, you can see that I worked a couple of French Knots under each scallop on the fabric, just to pretty it up a bit.

If you've been making the Apples of Gold free block-of-the-month quilt, you may have been using this method of attaching the Ric Rac, as I have.  I'm putting this photo here because it shows a different effect that is achieved by having a space between the ends of the braid, so that the frame is not completely boxed in:

Another easy way of attaching Ric Rac, is by hand stitching diagonally across each section of the braid to form a zig zag pattern.  You can use a contrasting thread for a decorative effect:

... or use matching thread which is a purely functional way to keep the Ric Rac in place:

One of my favourite methods is to work a French Knot in each section of the braid.  This method works well when the Ric Rac has pronounced 'zigs and zags':

I love the effect of the contrasting dots:

An extension of this idea is to work 'dashes' along the centre of the braid as well:

I've couched the pink ric rac in place with gold beads down the centre in this example:

To achieve a rope-like effect, I have worked diagonal stitches over the Ric Rac in only one direction on this table runner:

Jumbo ric rac is great for making a scalloped border effect:

The jumbo ric rac in the example below was perfect for couching with diagonal stitches and then embroidering little rose buds in each section.  My absolute favourite:

One method I intend trying some time is to work a long chain stitch on the Ric Rac with some embellishment flowing from that onto the fabric. I'll show you when I get round to doing it!

A commissioned quilt project has filled most of my days this week and no doubt it will fill a few more next week as well!  My night hand-stitching time has seen me complete the stitching on a couple more of my PASSES, (Projects at a stand still), but there are more than enough photos on this post already, so I'll show them off some other time.

Happy stitching!
Val