Sunday, October 17, 2010

Bow Tutorial

These bows are simple to make, they just take a little bit of patience and tweaking to get the perfect shape. Follow the jump to find a printable pattern and step by step instructions with on how to make these

What you will need:
  • The pattern, which I have uploaded here, and fabric for it.
  • a sewing machine (optional! this can be hand stitched if you do not own a machine)
  • embroidery thread and needle
  • a couple pins
Instructions: Please follow along with the written instructions given in the PDF file.
Step 1: You may want to mark where you want your opening to be that way you know when to stop sewing. Make sure you do reverse stitches on both sides of the opening so the bow body does not come apart when you fold it inside out.

Step 2: This still will make glad you did reverse stitches! You do not have to stitch together the opening once it is folded right side out, as the center piece should cover it, but you always can if you want to. You may also want to iron this piece, as it will be wrinkly.
Step 3: Same idea as steps one and two.
Steps 4 & 5: Really stuff the open end in there... you should have a good half inch folded over onto the inside so you won't have to stitch this closed. The length may look a little short, but don't sweat it. You really don't need that much to wrap it around the center.
This is what I referred to as the "folding technique". If you're having trouble getting your bow to look nice when you cinch it, use this as a starting point and then adjust from here. First fold the bow body in half, and then take the top half and fold it down, so you're essentially folding the half in half. Do the same for the other side. That should give you the right looking pleats for your bow.
Step 6: use pins to hold the center together as you prepare the center piece. You will have to take these off when you're putting the center piece on, they're just there to remind how you want your bow cinched at the middle so you can easily fold it back up on your own.
Step 7: make sure the center piece is only pinned to itself. You don't want the pin to go into the body because you will have to adjust your bow again and you need to be able to move it around freely. The center piece should only be like a ring.
Step 8: When you adjust the front part so it looks how you want it to, go ahead and pin the center piece together so the pins go through the back of the bow body and hand stitch everything in place. Make sure that your stitches don't go through to the front of the bow, though!
Ta-da! Your bow should look something like this.

4 comments:

  1. Nice and neat tutorial.

    Thank you.

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  2. I'm glad you like it! I hope it was helpful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I made a whole bunch of these several months ago, then made a few bands to wear them as bowties. :)

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  4. I love this!!! I got to go out tomorrow gonna wear it in my hair!!! <3

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