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Ribbon Lanyard

June 22, 2011 By Spoonful of Sugar - 14 Comments

Lanyard and FobHigh school is certainly more technology based these days. Laptops, Graphics Calculators, Computers etc all make learning easier (not to mention more expensive for parents!). USB Flash drives are a common booklist item and they can be easily lost/misplaced as the kids go from class to class around the school. One way of making them easier to locate in the school backpack or pencil case, is by creating a brightly coloured lanyard to attach them to.

My husband is often going to conferences and always gives me the items he picks up while he is there – he knows we love to re-purpose in our crafting!  A lanyard or key fob can be easily made by using the hardware on an existing lanyard. (They can also be purchased cheaply from stores such as Office Works).

Conference Lanyards

What you need:

  • existing lanyard
  • twill tape (approx 1″ wide)
  • decorative ribbon
  • sewing machine
Ribbon can be a bit flimsy for a lanyard, so I stitched it to some coordinating twill tape.
Stitch Ribbon

I removed the hardware from the existing lanyard (i.e. swivel clip), and then stitched the ribbon tape in place. You can make them any size you want – either a lanyard to wear around your neck or a smaller key fob size.

They are perfect for holding a USB flash drive, keys, or ID card.

Lanyard

You can find the ribbon at Ribbons Galore. Sarah wants to make some more of these in the school holidays – they are a great teen craft.

Small Fob

Filed Under: Sewing, Sewing Tutorials Tagged With: ribbon

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Comments

  1. Bela says

    June 22, 2011 at 10:21 am

    Lovely!!!
    Dear Lisa, thanks for all your precious comments about my work. You have been one of my greatest inspirations, be sure of that!!
    Love, Bela

    Reply
  2. Kirsty@Bonjour says

    June 22, 2011 at 11:32 am

    Now that is super clever and very useful. Thanks!

    Reply
  3. Katherine says

    June 22, 2011 at 12:07 pm

    Another great and practical idea! Thank you Lisa for your clever projects and endless inspiration.

    Reply
  4. Dogwood says

    June 22, 2011 at 2:30 pm

    Thanks my dear for the fabulous idea.
    Great gifts!
    I love the recycle part of it too.
    Happy moments to you!

    Reply
  5. Leanne says

    June 22, 2011 at 2:34 pm

    I can attest to that having gone back to school this year. 2 of the boys in my class lost all their photographs on misplaced USBs. Another great idea by you.

    Reply
  6. Melissa Antolovic says

    June 22, 2011 at 3:02 pm

    I have a collection of those lanyard just waiting to be reused

    Reply
  7. Kelly G says

    June 22, 2011 at 4:18 pm

    Fantastic idea! I hadn’t thought of doing this and we have oodles floating around our house.

    Reply
  8. Christy says

    June 22, 2011 at 10:00 pm

    It’s a great idea! Wanna try it soon.

    Reply
  9. Nava.K says

    June 23, 2011 at 3:39 am

    its nice and am sure can use many different design of material.

    Good idea for the UBS.

    Reply
  10. Clarissa says

    June 23, 2011 at 5:21 am

    Instead of covering the name of the sponsor, I cut pieces from different lanyards and sewn them on a piece of fabric to make coasters. I made three coasters with lanyards from scientific conferences for 3 professors I am working with; I’ll give the coasters to them next month as my thank-you gift when I leave my current job (moving to SoCal).

    Reply
  11. Linda says

    June 23, 2011 at 5:59 am

    and a great gift for teens as well.

    Reply
  12. JG says

    June 23, 2011 at 5:36 pm

    These are both cute + useful!
    ~Judy

    Reply
  13. Jill says

    June 27, 2011 at 12:35 am

    That is such a great idea! I only had one old lanyard – can’t remember what I used the strap for but it was an out of sight thing because it wasn’t pretty! If only I’d known!!!

    Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
    Hope you have a great week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

    Reply
  14. Kenna Sue says

    June 30, 2011 at 9:45 pm

    Love this idea.
    Can’t wait to decorate my lanyard that my work nametag goes on!

    Reply

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