Hair Bow Tutorial

A while back I posted pictures of these hair clips that my friend, Brooke, taught me how to make:

A couple of you have asked me for a tutorial on how to make them, so here it is!  They're really quick and simple.  

Start out by making yourself some helping forms.  These were cut out of a cardboard box.  

Both are around 4 1/2" long, and the cut-out part in the middle is 2 1/2" long.  The big one is 4" wide, the small one is 2 3/4" wide, and the cut-out is 1" wide.

Pick what ribbons you want to use for the larger, bottom layer and for the smaller, top layer.  In the ones above I used a satin ribbon on bottom and a sheer on top.  For the one today I used a part-sheer 1 1/2" wide ribbon on bottom, a sheer 3/4" one on top.  Feel free to mix it up and try new things!  Scroll down for a few more examples.

Start by cutting the larger ribbon to a point on the end.  Don't forget to burn the ends so they don't unravel.  Using the larger form, put the point 1/2 on the form, 1/2 off, and wrap it 3-4 times.  I did 3 wraps here.  Cut the other end to a point.  Both points should be pointing toward the outside.  Put a clip on it in the form cut-out to hold the ribbon for you while you thread a needle.  Don't forget to burn the other end of the ribbon.  (I don't measure the ribbon out ahead of time.  I wrap the ribbon while it's still on the spool then cut it off at the end--that way, there's no wasted ribbon.)

Thread a needle with a single strand of embroidery floss, or something equally strong (thicker than just plain thread).  Slide the ribbon gently off the form and start sewing.  I find it works better to begin with the needle coming up, end with it going down.  Here it is off the form with the needle started in it.

Do several stitches across all the ribbon layers.  Don't pull the needle through the fabric yet--first, bunch the ribbon on the needle into a bow, like this:

Pull the thread halfway through, so there's a long length of thread on either side of the bow.  Wrap it tightly in both directions and tie in a double knot.  This is the bottom layer of the bow.  Leave the tails of your string long.

Do the same thing with the smaller ribbon on the smaller form.  (Sorry, I didn't get pictures of this.  It essentially looks the same as above.)  Lay the smaller bow on top of the larger bow, making sure that all the tails are pointing the same direction.  Take the long ends on the large bow and wrap them tightly around both bows, tying them together.

Now it's time to wrap the center.  The bows at the top of this post use eyelash yarn.  On this bow, I decided to use a white feather boa.  You can tie or hot glue these, depending on what your preference is.

The possibilities and variations with this are endless.  The other day, I found some lace in the clearance section at Wal-Mart.  Each bubble held 9 feet of lace, and they were on sale for $0.50 each!!

I knew I had to use some on one of these bows.  This is the final result:

How gorgeous is that?

I recently received a gift with this adorable ribbon on it:

Not wanting to cover up or detract from the sparkly flowers, I decided to make a single-layer bow out of it.  For the center, I used a simple, sparkly silver flower.

So go make some bows!  Be creative with ribbons, textures, beads, and whatever else you have laying around.  I'd love to see what you make, so please feel free to e-mail me photos!