Hair Bow Tutorial & Giveaway!!!

Make sure to check out our giveaway at the bottom of the page!

The hair bow is the ultimate accessory to any outfit.  Just ask Heidi Sage, hers get tons of attention...of course, she wears the larger ones.  :-)  This is a tutorial on the basic hair bow, but I have broken it down to show how to make three different sizes.

This is great to know if you have a girl, because you know how expensive buying bows can be.  This also allows you to make them custom for your existing outfits.  It's also great for gift giving!  If you watch for sales and buy the ribbon then, these start to become very CHEAP, very cute gifts!  

We typically use grosgrain ribbon to make ours, but any type of ribbon will work.

 

Supplies needed:

Ribbon (lengths and widths noted below according to bow size)

Wire (you can find this at your craft store)

Fray Check

Hair Clips

Yard Stick

Wire Cutters

Scissors

Marking Pencils

Large Bow

1 yard of ribbon 1 1/2" wide for Bow

6" of ribbon 3/8" wide for center of Bow

If you do not have the 3/8" ribbon you can use the 1 1/2" piece of ribbon by tying it in a knot or folding it in half with an iron (I'll be demonstrating these two methods).

Mark your yard stick 4, 11, 18, 25, 32.

Medium Bow

29" of ribbon 7/8" wide for Bow

 6" of ribbon 3/8" wide for center of Bow

Mark yard stick 8, 13, 18, 23, 28.   

When laying the bow out, start end of ribbon at the 4"mark on the yard stick.

Small Bow

23" of ribbon 7/8" wide for Bow

 6" of ribbon 3/8" wide for center of Bow

Mark yard stick 11, 14, 18, 22, 26.  

When laying the bow out,  start end of ribbon at the 7" mark on the yard stick

**Note:  When marking my numbers on the yardstick I use a different color for each size bow.**

First step is to mark your yardstick according to the measurements of the bow you're making.  

Next, lay the ribbon next to yardstick and mark the ribbon with your marking pencil accordingly for the size of Bow you are making.  (See the white marks on the ribbon.)  Make sure if you're making the medium or small bow to start the ribbon at the proper measurement mark as noted above.

Cut about 6" of wire before you start folding the ribbon for you bow.  (You'll want to have this handy and ready to go!)

This shows how you should hold your ribbon as you make each loop.

Place the first white marking on your ribbon between finger and thumb.  Scrunch it, creating small folds across the ribbon.  3-4 folds should suffice.

Holding the marked spot on the ribbon, guide out the long side, make a loop and fold it back so that the next white marking is now with the previous one.  You have made your first loop.

Scrunch the marked ribbon to the side of the first marked spot (I don't stack, I prefer scrunching into the sides). Continue making the loops and scrunching at the white marks on your ribbon.  When using a solid ribbon it does not matter which direction you loop the ribbon.  HOWEVER, if using a printed ribbon, make sure to keep the print to the outside.  Your ribbon will essentially be creating a circle.  

Keep adding each mark between your finger and thumb until you run out of marks.

Now that all the white marks are scrunched between your fingers, you are ready to place the wire around the ribbon in the center of the bow.

Once I have twisted the wire a few times I straighten out my loops on the Bow and then continue twisting the wire, making sure it's tight.

I flatten out the wire in the center and pull the wire to the top on the Bow and I trim off the extra length.

For this bow, I used the knot method for the wrap around.  This is what you would do if you did not have the smaller width ribbon noted at the beginning.  

First, tie a knot in the center of the ribbon.

Add a small dot of hot glue to the front of the bow in the center on top of the wire.

Place knot of ribbon on the glue and press down while glue is setting.  (If using the smaller width of ribbon, the application is a bit different.  It would be the same as when you iron a wider piece of ribbon in half.  See several steps below for that application.)

Turn bow upside down and glue on hair clip.  I like to glue the clip on the two center pieces of ribbon.

Pull end pieces to back of clip and trim to fit and then glue one side at a time.

Now you need to trim the two ends of the ribbon on the main part of the bow.  I have marked the ribbon so you can see what needs to be trimmed off.

Cut off the ends.

Seal the edges with Fray Check.  This keeps the ribbon from coming apart.

The method is the same for the medium and small bows, but make sure use the proper measurements and marking as noted for each of them.

**NOTE:  For the medium and small bow I ironed my ribbon in half for the center piece.**

From the back side of the bow I glued the end of the folded ribbon.  Then I glued on the hair clip.  I wrapped the ribbon around the bow two times bringing the ribbon under the center bar of the hair clip. Trim the ribbon and glue loose end.

I try to use a cool melt glue gun because you get glue on your fingers.

Hair Bows in three different sizes.

Now for the giveaway!  Leave us a comment at the bottom of this post and we will randomly select ONE winner to receive all THREE of the bows made in this tutorial.  

You can leave any kind of friendly comment...tell us if this was helpful, tell us if you've tried another of our tutorials, or tell us if there's something you'd like to see us cover!

For additional entries, you can "Like" us on FaceBook or "Follow" us on blogger.  Just leave a separate comment for each letting us know you have done this!

We will announce the winner Wednesday evening, so check back with us!  If you "Like" us on FaceBook, you'll see a friendly reminder go out on Wednesday to check for the winner!

Get Your Glue Guns Up,