Ribbon Lanyard... add on

Back a while ago I posted a tutorial on how to make a ribbon lanyard... something I find very necessary to keep my scissors handy.  The original post for this tutorial was a year ago in May, so you will have to go to the archive files for May of 2010.  I've made several over the years, but you can always learn something new.  I had a request to show some pictures of the way that I tie the ends when I am done looping.  Well, in order to show the end, I needed to make a new lanyard so I could take the missing pictures.  I always seem to get a little frustrated with how I start... you tie a knot on one end and you have two spools of ribbon on the other... and where is the starting loop to come from? Today when I sat down to start my new lanyard I decided to take some pictures at the start also.

 

 

 

In the first picture it shows the green with a loop in it under the straight piece of purple.  With the two ends together, take the ends under and come up around and down into the loop formed by the green and purple ribbon (not the bigger green loop showing on the right). Pull the ends through and finish the knot.  Give a little tug to tighten.  You now have your beginning loop on the right.  Maneuver the two ribbons into position.

 

 

The purple ribbon needs to come around to the left to begin the looping.  Proceed to the previous tutorial to work through the lanyard to the point it is ready to be tied off.

 

Finishing off the ends

 Cut the ends leaving 3 or 4 inches to give yourself room to tie off the ends properly.  Take the opposite ribbon end and thread it through the last loop.  Pull ends to snug, then tie a simple overhand knot.  It may take a little maneuvering to get it close enough and to look nice.

 

In this image the short ribbon ends are from the start and the longer ribbons are at the finish.   On the right it shows my choice to tie my lanyard ends together using a square knot.  I also found that by using a wider ribbon the end result is the lanyard seems to have buoyancy... it stretches when I pull, then springs back when I let go.

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Ribbon lanyard tutorial

This is a pretty easy project, but it takes a bit of practice when you first start to get the feel of it.  You first start off with two spools of ribbon.  I have not measured how much ribbon it takes, but I typically make my lanyards about 54" long, and I am sure that I can get at least two lanyards out of the two spools of ribbon.  The ribbon I am using here is 1/8".

Tie a simple overhand knot about two inches from the end.



The blue ribbon is on top in this case and the yellow is behind.

 Make a loop with the yellow towards the back.  Remember that this is probably the hardest part of the whole process... getting the first two loops to work nice together so they stay snug.

Wrap the blue ribbon to the right and back around the base of the yellow loop so the blue is now on the left.



Now you make a loop with the blue, with the loose end on the back side.

Bend the blue loop so that it slips into the yellow loop.  Before you snug it up, be sure there are no twists in either ribbon.  Pull gently on the yellow ribbon to snug it around the base of the blue loop.

After you snug the yellow around the blue, make a loop with the blue and slip it through the yellow and repeat this process until you have the desired length.

You are always going to bring up a loop from the contrasting ribbon through the loop.

When you have only an inch or so done, you can see if you have the pattern going.  It should lay flat and have a uniform tension.  With practice it works pretty smooth.

For reference I have included one more image of the back side of the ribbon lanyard.  There is a definite front and back. If you put your project down before you are done, when you pick it up to work with it again, be sure the loose ends are coming from the front of the work.

There may be other ways to end it off, but when I have mine as long as I want it, I cut the ribbons and run the end through the last loop before I tie a knot on the end.  I then take the two ends of the lanyard and tie another knot... of course that would be after I have put my scissors on the lanyard.

Good luck with your lanyard.  If you have any questions, leave a comment and I will try to respond quickly.