Saturday, August 8, 2009

Bow Tutorial--Just for you Lacie!

My cousin Lacie e-mailed me from California, wanting to know how to make some bows for her adorable twin girls. I have never done a tutorial, but I figured this would be the easiest way to show her.First of all the supplies that you need are ribbon, alligator clips (metal single prong clips), elastic thread, hot glue, scissors, and fray check. To decide how long your ribbon needs to be you fold it in half once and then in half again part way. The double fold will be about the size of your finished bow and the extra will be your tails.
Press each of the folds tightly so that they leave a little crease in the ribbon.
Fold back the tail and press tightly again leaving creases.
Unfold the ribbon and it should look like this so you can see five creases.
Take the first crease and fold it over the second so it lines up.
Fold the ribbon over again and line up the third crease with the others.Tuck the fourth crease so that it lines up with the other creases and is on top of the first two and under the third.
Take the last crease and put it on top of the others.
Take the folded ribbon and fold it like an accordion.
Wrap the elastic thread around the middle several times and tie in a not. Trim the ends of the thread.
Stretch the bow so that each of the loops is the same length and the elastic is in the center. Put it to the side at this point.
Now we are going to wrap the alligator clip with ribbon. This is optional, but makes the finished bow look a little nicer.
Take some 3/8 inch ribbon and place it inside the clip then wrap it around the clip.
Trim the ribbon. Take it out of the clip.
Put hot glue on one inch at the end of the ribbon and place it on the inside top of the clip.Fold the ribbon over the top of the clip. There should be enough glue to pinch it to the top. If not, put more glue to secure.
Put glue on the rest of the ribbon.
Wrap it around the clip and secure as shown.
Now we are going to attach the clip to the bow. Place a drop of glue on the center of the clip. Line it up with the elastic in the center of the bow and press it down.
Now take the 3/8 ribbon and open the clip and place a drop of glue underneath the clip and place the ribbon on the glue. Close the clip and wait for the glue to cool.
Pull the ribbon around the clip.
Place another drop of glue on top of the ribbon underneath the clip.
Pull the ribbon tight and press onto the glue. Hold it while the glue dries.
Trim off the ribbon just below the clip.
Now trim the tails to a desired length in the front and back.
Now you have your finished bow.

To keep the bow looking nice, apply fray check to the edges of the tails and let dry.
Hope this helps Lace! If anything doesn't make sense, just let me know. Now that you know how to make a basic bow, you can add extra loops or put one bow on top of the other before you secure to the clip, and all sorts of other fun things. Have fun experimenting!

5 comments:

Jamie said...

That's pretty cool Kristy. Did you end up going to your reunion? If so, how did it go? Also, how is your pregnancy coming along? Are you feeling ok?

Lacie said...

YAY! Its more than I could have hoped for :) Beautiful hair, here we come!!! Thanks Kristy! Now I just have to get some supplies...

Laura Pants said...

Love it... maybe someday I will get to use it!

James and Tricia Thomas said...

Glad you posted this! I am totally going to make some bows!

heidibudge said...

I'm definately impressed with your bow making skills. I hope mine turn out as cute as yours. By the way, I hope you come to the reunion. It will be fun. I'm sure you'll win for "most kids"! :)