Stitching woven ribbons

There's no hard-and-fast rule to stitching a woven ribbons design: I'm sure everyone has his/her own way of doing it. I always begin with the background--in this case, some green Fleur de Paris fine mesh velour I had in my stash. Unfortunately, this thread is no longer manufactured, but Petite Very Velvet works just as well.

My next step is to stitch the edges of the ribbons. The "window pane" check ribbon was worked in DMC floss #504 in a gobelin stitch over three threads; the vertical plaid ribbon was edged in DMC #5 perle cotton #818 with the same gobelin stitch. To add a little "bling" to the middle horizontal ribbon, I first stitched a single row of Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #002V, then added DMC floss #503 in a gobelin stitch over two threads.

Now to the floral ribbon that's been completed. I first stitched the edge in DMC floss #3354, then filled in the background with mosaic stitches using DMC floss #818. The "flowers" were also worked in mosaic stitch with DMC floss # 3354 and #3733, with the centers filled in with Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #009 in Smyrna crosses.

I moved on to the framed Scotch stitch that makes up the window-pane check--I'll fill in the framework next. This particular design has what I call a "built-in" stitch guide: while the design could be worked entirely in tent stitches and look just fine, the pre-determined stitch count lends itself to decorative stitches that add a little interest to the finished product.