How to make BOWS

Materials:

• Ribbon in any width you like


• Needle and Thread


• Piece of Cardboard cut to the width you would like the bow to be. Usually 3-5 inches with the center cut out to allow for stitching. Cereal boxes work great.

• Alligator clips (you can find these at Sally's Beauty Supply. Box of 100 for $4.99)

• Glue gun

Instructions:

• Take your ribbon and wrap it around and down the cardboard using the clips to attach it to the cardboard at the top and bottom. Wrapping it 3 times around to make a 2 loop bow. Make sure to leave some extra end hanging off the cardboard on the top and bottom.

• Stitch through the center of the ribbon using about 2 stitches per “row” of ribbon.

• Remove the needle and slide the cardboard out from the middle of the ribbon.
  


• Lay the ribbon down and make sure the thread is even on both sides.

• Start to tie the thread into a knot but hold down the sides of the ribbon so that the bow can begin cinching. Make sure the sides of the bow do not fold over themselves. Pull tighter until the bow completely cinches.


• Have someone (toddler fingers work great for this) put their finger down in the middle to hold the bow together while you tie the knot on the side and then repeat on the other side. (I like to keep flipping it and tying knots a few times. I feel like it makes it more secure that way.)


• Use a lighter to barely singe the ends of the ribbon to keep them from fraying, or use fray check.


• Glue on to an alligator clip and its ready to wear!

Here's another example using smaller ribbon and wrapping it more times.
You have to do something to cover the thread in the middle. You can glue on a button or flower or wrap a piece of ribbon over it. One way I like is tying a loose knot in some ribbon and then wrapping it around the middle.
Then you just glue it on and wrap to the back and cut the extra ribbon.
This would be a cute little bow or you could put it in the middle of a bigger bow like this:
Here are some more examples of some bows I made:

You can do all kinds of creative things once you understand how to make a basic bow. I didn't go out to the store and find any materials so I just scrounged around the house. I think little jewels would be really cute as the center of the bow. Also if you bought a big button and glued that in the middle.
It is easier to make a bow with silky ribbon. The grosgrain ribbon is hard but once you get the hang of it it isn't too bad.
I have two more things to show you how to do but I haven't done them yet so I don't want to post the directions until I have some examples. One is how to make these bows into headbands and the other is how to make curly ribbon.
I hope this wasn't too confusing. If you have any questions just leave a comment and I'll try to help you. I'm not very good at this yet but by the 9th bow it was getting a lot easier.