One of the blogs I enjoy is Kelly's Korner, a sweet blog written by a young mommy from the south. Kelly has two darling little girls and loves dressing them in matching smocked dresses and huge hair bows.
Photo by Kelly's Korner
Reading her recent post about hair bows reminded me I hadn't shared bow making techniques since this post and since we have so many adorable ingredients for making hair bows I figured it was time.
Since I am a California girl my bows certainly can't compete in size or complexity of those from the south, but my techniques are pretty basic and could easily be adapted to more elaborate styles.
What I really love about making these is that this basic style costs less than a dollar to make and can easily be completed in less than a half an hour. If you follow the links on Kelly's blog you'll see that some of the bigger more elaborate bows can cost nearly thirty dollars!
Here's what you'll need:
1 yard 1 1/2" wide grosgrain ribbon
hair clip
hot glue
water washout pen or other marker
ruler
needle and thread
embellishments optional
Let's get started.
Starting with 31" of 1 1/2" wide grosgrain ribbon, measure 3 1/2" from one end and mark with a dotted line. (I prefer using a washout pen because it bleeds through to the wrong side of the ribbon - you'll need to be able to see that line on both sides of the ribbon)
Next you'll measure and mark a line 6" from the first line.
Continue measuring and marking every 6". You will need to mark a total of five lines.
You should have 3 1/2" inches left beyond the fifth line.
If you are using a pencil or some marking devise that isn't visible on both sides of your ribbon then you will need to mark lines 1, 3 and 5 on the right side of the ribbon and lines 2 & 4 on the wrong side. Whatever marker you use, the line will not show on your finished bow because it will be in the middle of the bow, under the ribbon that attaches your bow to the hair clip.
With a double threaded needle (and a really big honk'n knot) start sewing with a running stitch along the first line, bottom to top of the ribbon.
When you get to the top of the first line, match up the second line with the first and continue to stitch. Notice you will be stitching this second line on the wrong side of the ribbon.
Continue stitching all five marked lines together, paying close attention to have the ribbon folded back and forth, right to wrong as shown below.
Once you reach the top of the fifth line
gently pull the thread (needle still attached) so as to gather the ribbon along the stitched lines. Shape the bow as you gather it in the center, paying special attention to keep the right side of the ribbon facing out.
At this point you will have two loops and a tail on the left and two loops and a tail on the right.
Wrap the thread around the center a few times and take a couple of stitches to secure. Cut off excess thread. (The center of your bow should be tightly scrunched).
Take the five inches of left over ribbon (remember you used only 31" of your 36" piece) and fold it into thirds, lengthwise and make a loose knot in the middle.
Here's what it looks like on the right side.
Put a tiny dab of hot glue on the back side of the knot and secure it to the front center of your bow.
Wrap the ends to the back of the bow securing the hair clip as you glue.
Trim the ends and that's it!
You can eliminate the knot and just wrap a narrow piece of ribbon around the center to hide the stitching and to attach the clip then add an embellishment to the top side of the bow.
I love that the clips can attach the bows directly to the hair or to hats and headbands. By simply changing the clip you can totally change the look of your hat.
This technique works well for any size ribbon. You will need to adjust the distance between the marks and may want to add loops depending on the width of your ribbon. The chevron ribbon is just 7/8" wide so my loops were marked 4 1/2" apart instead of six inches apart.
Encourage one another,
