Handmade Bows

Posted by Katie Ray on January 27, 2019

Happy New Year everyone!! I hope you all had an amazing holiday like Jen and myself. We are jumping into 2019 with newfound vigor and ideas for our blog and couldn’t be more excited for things to come!

One of my favorite things to do while wrapping presents, any time of year, is making a gorgeous bow. A nice handmade bow can make any gift look expensive and glitzy! And lets be honest, it will also make anyone you give a gift to “oooo” and “ahhhh” over your gorgeous masterpiece. My mom taught me how to make bows when I was a teenager and it’s been one of the best craft secrets I’ve ever learned; and today I am passing down the knowledge to you!

Supplies

Sharp scissors
Wire Edged Ribbon

The Ribbon

The best ribbon to use is wire edged ribbon, which you can find at any craft or fabric store. You can use non-wired ribbon as well but it’s more difficult to shape, especially when starting out.

Pictured above is the ribbon I will be using. It’s important to note which side of the ribbon is the font side and the back side. On some ribbon it’s quite obvious, and with others like this it’s a bit more difficult. In the picture on the far right the piece of ribbon that goes to the left is the front side and the other is the back side. You can tell this by two factors: the front side is more shiny or bright and the back side is dull and mate, also the wired edge sits on top of the front side and is flat with the back side (see the middle photo).

Bow Making

Make your first loop as pictured above, making sure that you have the front of the ribbon facing outwards. However big your loop is, is about how high/wide your bow will be. These directions will work with just about any size bow you’d like.

You’ll then pinch the middle of your ribbon where you’d like the base of your loop to be, this will be the middle of your bow.

Next, make another loop, making sure the front side of your ribbon is facing outward, you may need to twist the ribbon in the middle to make this happen. I use my thumb to measure out the bottom loops and my index finger for the top loops. This helps in making each loop approximately the same size.

Continue this process until you have 5 loops on each side, you can do more if you like, but 5 is my go to amount. The more loops you make the fuller and more dense your bow will be.

Once you’ve reached your 5 (or more) loops, grip your bow in the middle and cut the ribbon leaving a few inches for the tail.

Cut an additional section of ribbon to tie around the middle and secure your loops in pace.

Now you begin to “fluff” your bow. I do this by taking a loop with my index and middle finger inside the loop and thumb on the outside. I push inward towards the middle with my thumb to fluff out the loop. Continue to do this with all the loops. This is where the wired edging helps tremendously! You can pull and push and bend the loops in any way you’d like until you get a look you’re happy with.