Hello, time for the first of a few very basic tutorials: how to make a basic hair bow!
This week I am going to try and have a post online every day so please keep checking back for everything! I’m also going to be showing you some of the reader requests I’ve been getting lately ^_^
Before we get to the tutorial, there is a bit of a special announcement. One of my tutorials has been featured in Eleanor Zine which is (I think) the first web-zine for Western Gyaru fashion! How cool is that? They have chosen to feature my tutorial on how to make Usa-mimi/pointy bunny ear headbands 😀 I might be doing more things in future with them so go check out Eleanor Zine and if you have a Gyaru trend you want me to show you how to make just drop me a line on my Contact Page!
So today after lots of requests I’m going to show you how to make a very basic hair bow just like this one you guys loved yesterday…
Gather your materials, this is what you need to make a basic hair bow:
This is the most basic way I know to make a bow so we’ll start out easy and in other posts I’ll show you how to make more complicated ones. Cut a rectangle of fabric the size you want your bow to be. I generally work to the ratio that the long side of the bow should be 2.5 times the length of the short sides. You can either cut one large piece and fold it in half or two pieces the correct size. You will also need to cut a piece for the middle bit to hold it all together. For thin fabrics like this you should make it as long as your index finger and 3 times as wide as you want the middle bit to end up… if that makes sense ^_^
Thread your needle with some matching thread. Now let’s make the large part of the bow. Fold your fabric piece in half with the nice side on the inside.
Start in one corner and sew up the side. Use a plain old running stitch and if you aren’t planning to edge your fabric make sure to keep a decent seem allowance to avoid fraying. I should mention that all of this can be done on a sewing machine but as a lot of you don’t have sewing machines I thought I would do hand stitching instructions then if you do have a sewing machine you can adapt them!
When you get to the corner, keep sewing around the other side. Keep going until you’ve sewn up everything except a 2cm hole. Tie off your thread.
Now going through the hole, turn the whole thing inside out…
You get something like this:
Now using your pointy object, poke it inside the bow and use it to wiggle the corners into nice points ^_^
Then you get this, which looks much nicer:
Now let’s close up that hole! Fold the raw edges inside the bow so they follow the rest of the stitching and form a nice pointy corner. Using your needle and thread hand stitch it closed.
Now it’s time to pleat it into a bow! Fold your bow in half…
Now on each side of that fold, fold the remaining fabric in half. It should look like a concertina and you should have 3 visible pleats.
Now use your needle and thread to place a stitch to hold it all in place.
Now let’s make the middle bit. Get your other piece of fabric and fold it in thirds. This is the first fold:
This is the second fold:
Now wrap it around the middle of your bow ^_^
Sew it around the back and cut off the extra fabric.
Easy done! Now how are you going to attach it to your head? I took a headband and slid it through the tie part of the bow. I have also used the same bow by sliding a bobby pin through the back. You could attach it to a brooch or even sew it onto a ring, the possibilities are endless!
Tomorrow I’ll show you the whole outfit I wore it with ^_^. Let me know if any of you try to make a basic hair bow like this! |
