Glitzy Grad Lei

Got a graduate who's a little glitzy? Maybe someone a tad glamorous? They might like my newest take on the braided lei, the Glitzy Grad Lei.

For this lei you only need a few supplies. The lei pictured here used 1/2" rhinestone ribbon, blue 3/8" picot ribbon, white 3/8" picot ribbon, and scissors. My lei ended up only using about 5 yards of each ribbon. If you already know how to make a braided ribbon lei you don't really need to read the rest of this blog entry. Just make this lei the same but with the addition of the rhinestone ribbon. For those of you who may need a braided ribbon lei refresher, read on.

You start this lei by making a slip knot about 12" into your piece of ribbon. A slip knot is made by making a loop and then using the same ribbon, pulling another loop through your first loop. I tried to take a picture of this process (see above) and hopefully this will make the last sentence more understandable.

Now, with both the white and the rhinestone ribbon, make a loop leaving about a 12" long tail of the white ribbon in the back. As you can see, the rhinestone ribbon should be on the inside of the loop. Insert this loop into the loop you made on the blue piece of ribbon.

Then, pull the long piece of the blue ribbon, this is the one that should be facing you, tight until you have the blue ribbon cinched around the white/rhinestone.

Now make a loop with the blue ribbon and insert that loop into the white loop. Pull the white loop tight. All this talk about loops is making me a little loopy.

Anyone know how to do the loop-de-loop? Continue inserting blue loop into white, and white loop into blue until you have a long enough braid for your lei.

To finish, cut your blue and white ribbons leaving 12" tails. The rhinestone ribbon can be cut shorter. Then, with the last white loop made, insert the end of the blue ribbon into the white loop and pull the white loop tight.

Take your two long tails at each end of the lei and tie them together into a double knot.

 

Then tie your lei ends together and you're done! Your finished lei should look just like this one. Who's ready to get their glitz on?

Since we've already seen this ribbon in earrings, what do you all think about making a bracelet out of it? Good glitzy idea or crazy ditzy idea?

Puna @ Enchanted Lake

P.S There's another lei making how-to if you scroll down. Please do.