Handmade crafts where you decorated soaps with colorful ribbons and flowers were once very popular. In the 1970s, decorated soaps could be found in craft markets, flea markets, and school fetes. People liked to buy them to put around their homes. The long-lasting fragrance also makes this craft appealing to create.
Apart from my own collection of handicraft soaps, I haven’t seen a similar piece of decorated soap in the craft markets for a very long time. Most people must have forgotten about this amazing piece of handicraft work. It is time to bring back this country-style handicraft and show it to those who have not seen it before!
Using the photos above as a visual guide, follow these six easy steps to create your beautiful and unique decorated soap.
Insert the pins equally spaced from each other on the top of the soap. Follow its overall shape; I usually arrange the pins in an oval shape, which is generally the shape of most soaps. Do the same with the bottom of the soap.
Take the white ribbon and secure it to the top of the soap with one of the pins. Start wrapping the soap by holding the ribbon down towards the bottom of the soap. Wrap the ribbon around the bottom pin and bring the ribbon up to the next pin on the top. Wrap the ribbon around the pin and repeat the wrapping process until the sides of the soap are covered with the ribbon. Fasten the loose end of the ribbon by stitching it around a pin with a needle and thread. Trim off any excess ribbon.
Take the purple ribbon and pin it to the top of the soap. Wrap the ribbon around the nearest pin, followed by the next pin, and so on. Continue wrapping the pins until every pin has been wrapped. Then, continue with another round of wrapping the pins on the top so that there are two layers of the ribbon on the pins. Finish off by stitching up the ribbon and trimming off the excess.
Gently push the pins into the soap so that only the pinheads can be seen. Wrap the pins on the bottom of the soap in the same manner.
To decorate the side of the soap, insert pins around the perimeter of the soap that is covered with ribbon. Wrap the purple ribbon around the pins in the same way as the top and bottom. This time, the ribbon will go around the soap three times wrapping the pins. Finish off by stitching up the loose end of the ribbon. Push the pins into the soap in the same way as before.
Decorate the top of the soap with some craft flowers. Use a glue gun to attach the flowers to the soap.
And you’re done! Put a decorated soap in each room and enjoy the fresh fragrance in your house. These beautiful country-style soap decorations also make great gifts for family and friends.
© 2011 lady rain
About the author
Lady Rain lives in Australia and enjoys writing about travels, paper quilling crafts and historical events. She wrote on HubPages for 14 years.
