RIBBON TRIM Girly look in home accents tied to fashion

Designers find ribbons have a lot to offer in terms of visual interest.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Home accents are awash in ribbons. On everything from lampshades to place mats, designers are going gaga for grosgrain.
Marie Bertholet Smith, owner of MLB Designs in Kansas City, saw a lot of ribboned accents on her last buying trip to New York. "It's the Prada look. That girly-girl look carries over from fashion."
Smith says ribbons have a lot to offer in terms of visual interest: They create strong graphic patterns, add texture and offer saturated color.
Black Bamboo, a new boutique in the downtown Crossroads district, sells 90-inch table runners of colorful ribbons sewn on nubby fabric.
"Customers like the tactile experience," said Tim Butt, the shop's owner. "They're missing it in daily life. As we become more technology-based as a society, people want things that feel handmade around them."
Left to flutter
The runners are made by Dransfield & amp; Ross of New York. The hot design team also makes eye-popping curtains and shower curtains entirely of grosgrain ribbons stitched together at the top and left to flutter. The Horchow catalog sells one of the shower curtains for $290 -- not including the $12 plastic liner you need to keep the ribbons from getting wet. Not a practical option for homes with kids or cats, but inspirational to look at nevertheless .
At the other end of the price spectrum is Garnet Hill catalog's fanciful room divider for $19. It features colorful felt butterflies sewn to floor-length ribbons.
Pillows with covers made of grosgrain ribbons stitched together are selling well at Crate and Barrel this season, says company spokesperson Lisa Ridolfi.
"Grosgrain ribbon has a good feel to it," Ridolfi said. "It has bright, fun colors and a designed look."
Beautifully wrapped
What's more, Ridolfi points out, ribbons have cozy associations: wrapped packages, for instance, and candy-colored hair ribbons.
Most home decor items made with ribbons should be dry cleaned, although some are machine washable. Be sure to check the care label. You can get the look without worrying about spills by placing festive ribboned mats or cloths under glass tabletops.
Of course, crafters have been hot-gluing ribbons to message boards, desk blotters and baby albums for ages. The difference, retailers say, is the look has moved into formal living and dining rooms.
If you can sew, you can peruse catalogs and Web sites and create your own knockoffs. If you prefer directions, you can find a couple of stylish projects at DIY sites.
In addition to applying ribbons to fabric or sewing them together to make fabric, ribbons can be fashioned into crochet and knitting projects, or woven into mats.
"It's really simple. That's part of the look," Smith said.