During our first Winter CraftCubbing photo sesh, Raspuntin wanted some matching outfits for some mommy and me outfits. Yes I got ninety nine problems but my first child being a bear cub isn't one. I decided after to try to do a tutorial on how to make these for human mommy and me outfits. Or you know, in case you want to annoy a dog or two.
These little bows are amazing scrap busters and an easy quick way to make some coordinating accessories. You can easily adjust the size of the fabric to make longer bows, larger bows, littler bows, I would suggest playing around to find your perfect bow!
Materials needed: (blue bow) 1 x Main bow: 6 x 4.5 inches (play around with the measurements to customise your bow!)
1 x Middle strip: 2 x 1 .5 inch
--when using vinyl, I used 2 x 0.5 inch as vinyl doesn't fray, so we won't need to worry about hiding the raw edges!
1 x hair clip
Hot glue gun / E6000 Glue
Needle and thread
Steps:
1: Fold the main bow fabric in two along the long edge, right sides together
Stitch along the long edge with a 1/4 inch seam allowance, leaving a 1 inch gap in the middle for turning
2. Bring seam to the middle of the bow. This will help hide the seam behind the bow, I think it makes the bow a lot prettier!
3.Press the seam open
4. Stitch along the short edges
5. Clip the corners as close to the seam as possible, but avoid clipping through the stitching!
6. Turn the fabric bow out through the gap.
8. Slip stitch or topstitch the gap close (This is where hiding the seam behind the bow helps as the topstitching will be hidden)
9. Create 3 pleats as evenly as possible.
10. I like to sew through the center of the pleats as pictured, then wrap my thread around the pleats a few times. I finish it off by sewing through the pleats again - I find it holds better compared to just wrapping thread around the bow.
11. Now it's time to finish off the bow! Pick up the middle strip piece and fold it right sides together in half along the long edge
12. Sew down one of the short edges with a 1/4 inch allowance, pivot and sew down the long edge
13. Flip the middle strip piece right side out through the end
14. Wrap the middle strip around the center of the bow to check its size. Trim any excess off the raw edge.
15. Center the raw edge of the middle strip over the back of the main bow.
Wrap the finished edge of the middle strip over it to hide any raw edges.
Handstitch in place
For vinyl bows, we can skip step 11-15. Wrap the middle strip around the bow to check for size, trimming off any excess.
Handstitch or glue the middle strip in place
16. Using a hot glue gun or E6000 glue, glue the bow onto the glue pad of the hair clip
Optional: To cover the clip with matching fabric:
a. Cut a piece of fabric or vinyl about 1/8 to 1/4 inch larger than the hair clip.
b. Apply a thin layer of glue the fabric over the top of the bow
I would suggest using E6000 glue if you are new to using the glue gun as you will need to be pretty speedy if using a hot glue gun. Using glue helps to make sure the glue is even and gives us a better finish. Case in point, you can see from my pictures that my hot glue gun skills isn't top notch!
c. Working quickly, glue the fabric on the top of the hair clip. Wrap the fabric edges over the edge of the hairclip
d. Glue the fabric bow onto the clip
And ta-dah! Bows are complete! Aren't they cute?
Wasn't that easy? I hope you like this tutorial :)
Have a lovely weekend of fabric bow making!
Paw five, Kendall and the cubs
