Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Make a pretty 10-minute fabric bow...


I'm a girly-girl who loves a homely handmade bow so I thought I'd show you how to make them yourself.

They are so easy and quick that I promise you, once you've made your first 10-minute bow you'll be setting up a production line for an afternoon's crafting session. Imagine a box of pretty bows made from small scraps of your favourite fabrics!



You'll need two pieces of fabric -
Fold the larger piece in half across it's narrow side and the smaller piece in half across it's widest side, with right sides together...
The larger piece - sew down both sides and a little way across the bottom with a 1/4 inch seam. Leave an opening for turning out.
The smaller piece - sew down the side with a 1/4 inch seam. Trim away half the seam...
Turn both sections right side out.
Press the larger piece flat, and the smaller piece with it's seam centred at the back...
Concertina fold the square with that unstitched opening along the bottom edge... 
(you don't need to sew the opening closed on the square unless you want to. I don't bother as it does not affect the final presentation of the bow)
 Sew a few securing stitches to the centre of the folds...
 Wrap your smaller piece of fabric around the centre of the bow with it's seam line facing the bow.
Secure the two ends by hand sewing a line of running stitch across them.
Sew close to the edge of the bow but don't catch it in your stitching...
Trim away most of the excess from the ends...
Fan out your bow, and finger press the centre flat.  
You might like to give it a gentle press with your iron...
 Alternative Idea: wrap ribbon or lace around the centre of your bow!

From here you could use a glue gun to fix your bow to any number of projects, or attach it to fabric with a few stitches.
Are you ready to make bows?



13 comments:

Chris Royal said...

Thank you for this great tutorial. I can see many cute bows in my future!

Guida said...

Thank you for the tutorial, it will come in very handy.
Guida

Ondrea said...

Very very cute.

memorial garden benches said...

That's a very cute bow! I love it. Thanks for the tutorial!

Anonymous said...

Very cute Jenny my grand daughters made heaps of these,they had so much xx

Sharon - creativity and family said...

Thanks for a great little tutorial, they are super cute! You share so much Jenny, may you be blessed in you giving. x

Águeda said...

:) ya no puedo decir que no tengo tiempo de hacer algo bonito. Besos.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for another cute and useful tutorial.

Cindy in NC

Brenda said...

Jenny, I absolutely am thrilled with your tutorial and can not wait to make some bows! My Mom, daughter and I spend many hours wrapping my Mother's Christmas gifts every year, she waits until the last possible moment. It is a running joke that everyone knows who wrapped which gifts, everyone always gets mine right...I wrap terrible and can not make pretty bows. This year on pinterest, I have saved loads of tutorials for making bows of all varieties. I will definitely be giving your tutorial a try later on today. It is adorable and you really make it look easy peasy. Thank you for sharing the tutorial and everything else you create! Have a wonderful creative day!

Did you look at the project I posted on my blog with your Boobie Birdie pattern? I so enjoyed creating it that I have a couple more drawn out and ready to get to stitching. Thank you for designing it and sharing it! It is a spectacular design!

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much! As always, I could use this knowledge. I'm terrible at making bows. Good thing I had no daughters! These would make such cute additions to the squeezy hair clips, too or to those elastic bands for little babies.

Jackie said...

My bows are usually so sad looking. Thank you for the tutorial....

Véronique Rose said...

merci pour ce superbe tuto,
je vais réaliser votre pot "Thé de Noël" qui est ravissant
bien amicalement
Véronique

Minhas artes said...

it is lovely and easy for to do
thank you for your tutorial
obrigada
regina drumond