About this product:
Here you can buy gorgeous recycled sari silk ribbons that the Ragged Life team have carefully grouped into ready-made colour schemes of five skeins. Not sure which colours would work together? Don't worry, we've done the work for you! What's more, you save £5 when buying 5 skeins or more.
Remember, you can always buy the individual colours separately. If you're interested in those then click here.
What is Sari Silk Ribbon?
Originating from South Asia, a "sari" is a long piece of often brightly coloured and embroidered, silk, cotton, or synthetic cloth. It is generally worn by women as an outer garment, where it is wrapped around the waist, with one end draped over the shoulder, partly showing the midriff.
Sari silk ribbon is crafted from the remnants of sari material that is either left over from creating full saris, or from saris that are no longer wearable. These beautiful offcuts are hand crafted into one long continuous strip of silk fabric that can be used for rag rugging and other textile crafts.
Why Sari Silk Ribbon is great:
We've been trying to get our hands on some ethically-sourced sari silk ribbon for quite a while now for all the reasons below...
1) Silk is wonderful quality and looks amazing. As a fabric, silk is vibrant and rich in colour and texture. Its natural glow elevates any rag rug design or textile project. Silk will always be the star of the show and quality fabric lasts longer.
2) Sari silk ribbon comes pre-cut into strips, which saves time cutting. Sari silk ribbon is the perfect width for rug hooking using the loopy technique.
3) It's recycled. We're giving these offcuts a new lease of life and using them to create something both beautiful and practical.
4) Sari silk ribbon is light in weight, which makes it the perfect material for pictorial wall hangings, cushions, bouquets and more. It holds its shape very well, so makes beautiful 3D flowers.
5) Sari silk ribbon has wonderful texture. The frayed edges and handmade nature of the sari silk ribbon add interest and texture to your rag rugging with no extra effort.
6) Sari silk is never a flat colour. Each skein has lighter or darker hues and interesting accents. Some even have the shadow of the sari patterns themselves. These details add interest to your rag rugging with no extra work.
7) Sari silk ribbon can be used for all sorts of crafts. Knitting, crochet, weaving, appliqué, jewellery making, twining, punch needle, shuttle hooking, textile art... you can really get creative with it!
How is it sold?
Our Ragged Life Sari Silk Ribbon is sold in 100g twisted "skeins". Each skein is made up of one long strip of silk fabric that measures 50-55 metres in length. As the ribbon is made up of recycled offcuts of varying lengths, strips are often stitched or knotted together to create one long continuous strand. The strip may vary in width and finish due to its handmade nature, but this will never compromise your rag rugging. Please bear in mind before buying that this is a recycled product.
What are these 500g Colour Schemes?
We know how difficult it can be to find the inspiration to start a new project, so here we've grouped together different sets of five individual skeins of sari silk ribbon that we believe work beautifully together.
Notes on Colours:
None of our sari silk ribbons are a homogenous, flat colour. They've been hand dyed with eco-friendly dyes and often feature flecks of other colours. Sometimes they have embellishment or pattern from the saris themselves (embroidered flowers, small tassels etc...) These variations in colour and texture make your rag rugging look even better!
We've photographed all our sari silk ribbons in natural light, but different devices display colours differently, so check out our Individual Sari Silk Ribbon listing for one line descriptions of each colour.
How much do I need?
We're still at the beginning of our sari silk ribbon journey, so haven't yet worked out the precise amount of sari silk ribbon needed to make projects in all the rag rug techniques (sorry!). However, as our sari silk ribbons are hand dyed together by colour in one batch, we are generally able to match up colours if you do run out (unlike our 100% Woollen Blanket Yarn).
If you think you may run out partway through a project, please order sooner rather than later, as there can be colour differences between different dyed batches. That's one of the quirks of such artisanal fabrics unfortunately.
