Tutorial: Ribbon Trimmed Picture Mat

A look at the finished project that will be heading upstairs to my
guest room/home office.

Last weekend I picked up a copy of Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts at my local library. This book is loaded to the brim with every type of project imaginable. If you hear the word "crafts" and have visions of little old ladies in church basements fashioning things from yarn and Popsicle sticks, have no fear. This is not your Grandma's craft book.


I was especially smitten with one project, The Twill Tape Picture Mat. I mentioned this project in Monday's post about ways to add a personal touch to your picture mats.


These are the items that you will need for the project:



- Plain Mat
-Pencil
-Ruler
-Fine Tip Paintbrush
-Craft Glue
-Scissors
-Ribbon or Twill Tape (I used ribbon found in the scrapbooking section at Michaels.)

You will want extra paper to practice sketching out your design before starting. It will help you avoid the snafu that I encountered!


Unfortunately, the instructions provided are fairly sparse. To begin, you are told to use a pencil to lightly sketch out a design of your choosing. Several designs are pictured as a guide but no templates are available:


(I apologize for the quality of the images, but I hunted for this project on MarthaStewart.com and was unable to locate it online. Click on image to enlarge.)

Below you will find the instructions in boldface followed by my observations.

1. Start by cutting a piece of paper to the dimensions of your mat and tracing out the center where your photograph or print will be placed.


2. Using your ruler, trace out your design on your practice paper.

After a considerable amount of time and and whole lot of measuring, drawing of lines and erasing, I can up with these dimensions:



3. Practice laying out your design before sketching on your mat.

Luckily, I practiced laying out the ribbon on my scrap paper first. Had I not, I wouldn't have known that I hadn't taken into consideration the width of the ribbon when I made my measurements. My ribbon was too wide.


4. When you have a design you are satisfied with, trace the design on your mat.

In the end I chose a simple design instead rather than rework the original. The original design could work with a thinner ribbon.


5.. Working in small sections, apply the craft glue along your lines. Glue down your ribbon or tape, creating a 45 degree angle at each corner.





6. When your pattern is complete, cut your tape or ribbon and erase and visible pencil lines.



Final Thoughts:

I would try this project again, but I would stick to a thinner ribbon. The one I used was 5/8'. A thinner ribbon may have worked better.

The fine tipped paint brush is the key to making the execution of this project a piece of cake. I had no trouble applying the ribbon.