Guest Post: Making Hair Bows by Janna Bluth

My beautiful and talented sister-in-law Janna has a knack for crafts and recently started making these adorable little hair bows for my girls, as well as her own daughter. So naturally, I asked her if she would be willing to share her wealth of knowledge with you! This is her first installment of bow making with two more to come. Enjoy!

Today I will show you how to make a basic baby hair bow. The bow on the left was purchased, and the bow on the right is one that I made. Pretty much identical, right? I’ll show you how to duplicate it.

Here are the supplies you will need. Use grosgrain ribbon for this bow. You can find those baby hair clippies over in the hair accessory section of Wal-Mart. The wire is over in the craft section by the beads and jewelry making kits. You can find all of these supplies in craft stores, but they are much cheaper at Wal-Mart.

Pull out some of the thinner ribbon (3/8”) and the hot glue gun. Glue the ribbon all around the clippie. Take your time and make sure the ribbon is straight. A little hot glue will go a long way here; if you use too much, it will start to look messy. Set the clippie aside for now.

Cut 7” of your wider ribbon (I used a grosgrain ribbon that was 1” wide). Fold the ribbon into thirds, as shown. Pinch in the middle and hold it tight.

Before you move onto forming the bow, cut a length of wire to tie it up later.

Pinch the ribbon in the middle so that there is one bump in the middle, and it folds up on both sides of the bump. Adjust until you form a bow shape that you like. Hold it tight!

Carefully tie the wire into one knot. (Don’t be afraid to use your teeth as a third hand!) Wrap the wire around the bow several times, then tie several more knots to hold it tight. Clip the wire close to the bow, then hot glue the knots for more strength.

Take another inch or two of your skinny ribbon and wrap it around where you tied the wire. Secure it with hot glue when you start wrapping it around. Clip the end and hot glue again. Careful not to use too much glue, and make sure that the end you cut is on the back side of the bow.

Tada! Now for the finishing touches. 

I hot glued a little jewel on to the top of mine, the store bought one had a little flower.

You can put on whatever you want, or nothing at all! 

Now grab the clippie you covered in fabric a minute ago. Locate the top (the bottom is all the way flat, the top has a rise on one side). Put a strip of hot glue along the top, then quickly squish the bow onto the glue like so. 

 Hold it a few seconds until the glue sets up. Et voila! 

It may cost a little bit for the supplies (around $8 if you already own a glue gun), but you make a TON of bows with the supplies, and they make awesome gifts for those little princesses in your life! 

Now that you know how to wrap the ribbon around the clippies, the design possibilities are endless! I like doing the simple wrap-around (bottom right), add a jewel, and make another just like it. Then you have two cute matching clips for pig-tails! 

While you are crafting your bows, set your princess down with paper and crayons, and have her come up with a few designs of her own. She might be occupied enough to let you make the bow, and she might come up with some cute ideas too!

One more tip- If your little girl has thin, silky hair like mine, then bows like this probably slip out of her hair all the time. Open the bow up and spread a line of hot glue along the bottom-inside. Hold it open until the glue dries completely. You will know the glue is all the way dry when the glue changes from clear to opaque. This dried glue line provides a little bit of grip to hold onto that fine hair.