Making hair bows!

I decided to try my hand at making hair bows for my girls! And ya know what I found out? Its really fun, and after a few trial runs, pretty easy!

Here's what I have finished so far:

For these classic looking bows, I followed these instructions.

(Just a quick disclaimer about the instruction links I attach to posts like this: I often only read that particular page so I'm not endorsing the entire site. Venture off the linked page at your own risk... though I think this particular site I am linking to right here is strictly hair bow ideas... FUN!)

I used floral wire to secure the bows. Floral wire is such a versatile house hold item! I use it all the time, especially at Christmas for hanging decorations up or replacing lost ornament hooks. It's so cheap and one roll lasts a long long time. After twisting the wire in back and snipping off any extra, I hot glue it to an alligator clip (I found small ones at Walgreen's). Before hot gluing it to the clips, I "lined" the clips with ribbon... very easy to do. I didn't take a picture but you simply cut ribbon slightly longer than the clip, hot glue on top. Wrap the ends of the ribbon under and glue down for a more finished look. This is basically what I did. The clip doesn't show very much with bows this big so I wasn't too meticulous about it.

On the green satin bows above, I used a contrasting ribbon but for the yellow and white I just cut additional pieces of the same.

Its important to seal the ribbon after you cut it so that it doesn't fray. All that means is running the cut edge over a flame very fast. You need to be careful not to singe it, and different fabrics are more fragile than others, but a quick pass will take care of any possible fraying. Here are some instructions... I used a lit candle so that both my hands were free.

The second type of bows I tried were these fluffy organza bows. I loosely followed these instructions.

I was going for more a fun girlish look rather than the elegant ones on the link. Instead of decorating the middle of each flower with beads, I pinched the back of each flower after sewing all layers together to make the flower fluff up. I sewed the pinch in place. Make sense? Hmmm.... now I know why crafting sites post so many pictures!


Here is what one layer looks like all by its lonesome. It was a funky flower- ish shape, then the edges were singed over the candle. (This white organza was very delicate and couldn't tolerate much singing without turning into a wholly mess. The purple material in the flowers above was a lot more resilient and easier to work with. When I make more out of the material, I'm going to try singing the edges even more for extra curling effect.)

You simply stack 5 to 6 layers together, and sew threw. Glue to a lined clip.

I could easily become addicted to hair bow making! It was really fun, and they are much cheaper than buying them! Let me know if you try it yourself!!

Love,