How To Make A Hair Clip Bow | How To Make A Hair Bow Tutorial

Good day welcome to pay it forward. I'Ve got a really quick and easy tutorial for you. Today. I'Ve been making hair bows for years and years, and this one is my all-time absolute favorite hair clip bow and it's tiny and it's sweet and you can make it up in so many different colors and patterns. I'M wearing my little mickey mouse today, because you're, never too old for disney. Are you so just get your materials and requirements together, you'll find them in the description below and i'll show you how it's done so let you show, let me show you how i make my absolute favorite little hair, clip bows and the reason why i love them And i've been making them for years, and i have made literally thousands of these little bows over the years. The reason what makes them different from perhaps other little hair clip bows is the fact that they are two layers of grosgrain which are joined together with heat n bond, which gives you a very substantial, firm, little bow, which holds itself, and it does not deteriorate. These bows last four years, this little one here is mine, and i have had that one for 10 years or more, and it looks as good today as it did the day that i first made it. You can see that it's still all nice, nice and crisp and that's what makes them absolutely fabulous for craft markets and for gifts for for selling, perhaps online, and the other thing that makes them amazing is the fact that they're made of double grow grain. I always use just a plain on the back and then on the front. I choose a printed grosgrain and printed grosgrain's readily available on ebay and you can get so many designs. I mean flowers are probably my absolute favorite. I love this little print here and you can find all of your license prints so for my little granddaughter her favorite character, bluey one of my favorites little minnie mouse and mickey and my other granddaughter loves horses. So i was able to find some horse ribbon there. Just backed in the blue and you can see how you can personalize them, they're fabulous for their stocking stuffers, um, absolutely gorgeous clipped onto a little birthday card, just a friend a little extra. I also wear mine as a little brooch. I just clip it onto my jackets, so they're just pretty like that. So really you can see. They really are my favorite very, very simple, to make no sewing involved in these, so the things you'll need. You will need your printed grosgrain for the front of your bow and you'll need just your plain grosgrain, whichever color you're going to use for the back. You'Ll need some medium weight, heat and bond, which we're going to cut into strips and you're going to need. Your clips now these are little alligator clips. This one is 55 millimeters. I recommend you getting the 45 millimeters. If you can this one's slightly oversized for the bow, it still works, but i'd rather it was 45 and just a little less visible still holds the hair. Very well, though, so you need those they're very cheap and they're available on ebay and you'll need a centering ribbon. So centering ribbon works best on these bows. If it's about five or six millimeter in width, you see, i've got those little ones there. Anything wider is just it: it swamps, the bow and you've got uh it's too thick for around the middle there. So six millimeter width for those now you're also going to need a little twisty ties, and i get those from my freezer bags. When i buy my freezer bags, i just collect all those we need those to buy in the centers of the bow. You will need some heat and obviously your heat and bond in a medium weight you'll need a little lighter or burner just to burn the edges of your bows just to seal them, stop them from fraying now. The other thing is: if you can't find what you want on, you can't find a top ribbon that you're happy with, or you want to make them in a hurry. You can just dig into your stash of fabric and you can cut a strip with your heat n bond to exactly the same size, and you can use a strip of fabric from your stash now why this is fabulous is because we've got so many. We all have so many scraps - let's let's admit it and um - and i've done that one. There see that one's just fabric with the grosgrain behind it nice tight, prints, work best and i've got the little ladybugs, just your classic little florals. They come up just so beautifully um, and it really it can really make a difference to a little outfit and little girls absolutely love them. We used to sell them at cheer, bow festivals and the only thing that i ever did wrong with them is i never ever made enough. I could never keep up with the demand, so they really are a good little product to make if you're selling them uh you're - probably going to need a ruler too for our folding, because the folding is everything in this little bow so to get started. Let'S move all these ones out of the way, so we'll start with the double grosgrain bow now the measurement for the strips for the finished length of the bow is 31 centimeters, exactly that's the perfect length for the fold and for handling and for cutting tails. So 31 centimeters in length. So, first of all, you need to cut your heat and bond into strips that are 31 centimeters and an inch wide or 2.5 centimeters wide and cut them, and a rotary cutter helps you a lot with this, and so our first job is to press on now. You can see there that my ribbon is cut a little longer than my my strip. My strip is cut to 31. Exactly that just shows me exactly where i can trim off those ends, so you take that one to your iron and with a you, don't have to use a protective cloth. I find with grosgrain it's okay, but maybe drop your heat setting back just a little bit, but do test your grosgrain because your grosgrain might be a different combination mix than mine. But mine seems to take the heat quite well and you're, going to press that one on into place and that will give us our little strip now i can trim those ends now. The next step is we're going to remove that paper. So we've got a heat n bond on there. I'M going to lay this one out on the ironing board. So that's our top ribbon that we've chosen, which will look lovely with the pink on the back, and it's just a matter of pressing that little one into place. The heat and bond will seal them together and start at one end, and you find you press that on one absolutely straight it'll line up beautifully, which is why we use grosgrain. It'S got that lovely binding on each edge and that will give us our lovely bound piece. So that's all one piece now with lovely edges, so there won't be any fraying. You can see there and i've trimmed that now exactly to 31 centimeters and the next step is to fold. But let me show you we're going to do exactly the same thing with the fabric, so this one is made up in fabric and it's the same thing now the difference. If you're going to make one up with a fabric top ribbon, you see i'm just removing my heat and bond in exactly the same way. When you're cutting your fabric strip, i would cut it about a millimeter smaller than than the ribbon just a millimeter smaller, because when we press that one on you can see there, we've got a little bit showing either side and it's just going to protect that edge Of the fabric, because fabric isn't ribbon, it doesn't have a binding on either side. Even though we've got the heat n bond, i just find, if there's a little bit of ribbon in either side when we're folding, that bow up and for general wear and tear that edge won't be won't, be touched, so it won't fray away so cut that little One a little thinner than your actual ribbon width, so we've got our two strips and, and our next step and they're cut now both perfectly to 31 centimeters. The most important thing in making this little bow is the fold. The fold is absolutely everything and if you follow these steps, you'll be able to make so many of them so quickly, because it's just a formula it's step by step by step. If you just go ahead and try and scrunch the little bow up, you just make it harder if harder for yourself every time. So we start with our little bow. We'Ve got our little twisty tie ready. We start with our bow and we're just going to fold it over and, like i said, i've made so many of these. I can sort of i sort of know exactly how long it is, but the remaining tail there. Let me get my ruler in the right position: the remaining tail there should be about four and a half centimeters, and you see there. It is four and a half centimeters, that's how much we want remaining and we want it lined up the same on each side. So that's our first step, i'm going to put our thumb there and we're going to hold that little one in position. We'Re going to grab the top in the center and we're going to pull that one down so that the top line of that ribbon just sits right on that axis there and we're going to shift our fingers and hold that one all in place and they're. A good size they're not too small, to handle. So the next step is we're going to fold the bow, we're going to fold the bow in half and then i'm going to fold the top back hold on to it and fold the bottom back and it can take a little while for your fingers to get Used to doing this after a while after you've made a few you'll just be a pro it'll, just you'll know exactly what to do and how to hold it. So now i've got that pinched in the middle there, so it's in and then the other two on the outside. So take my little my little twisty tie and i'm going to pop that straight over the middle i'm going to keep a hold of it. Pinching it and pull my little ends down and then i'm going to twist, while i'm holding that and wind that little bow up, get it as tight as i can, and at this stage you'll look at that and say: well, that's a dog's dinner. That'S really! That'S! Not pretty and don't panic, because this little step-by-step process always works, so i like to tug on each tail. So we pull that down we're going to pull our little loops up and i'm going to pop it down and we're going to flatten that section flatten that middle section there and you see - we've got that lovely little shape. Don'T worry if that one side is a little longer or shorter than the other, because we're trimming those ends. So that's not a problem and the length i've given you allows a bit of room for that for it to vary, so we press that one as flat as possible. We'Ve got our little twisty tie on the other side and we're just going to snip that one off leave a little tail though, and we just press that one to the side and that one's all ready for its little clip and you can play with them and Adjust them so you've got it exactly as you like. So i'm going to fold this one up. This is the fabric one. So we're going to go through it again, so we're going to fold the end over and we're going to have it four and a half centimeters on that tail, which it is we're going to hold it right in the center i'm going to grab the top and In the middle and we're going to bring it down to the back of the bow to line up with that little v there reposition our fingers and the first fold is in half the next fold is the top section back and then the back section back trying To keep your fingers on it all get our little twisty tie straight over the front. The little fabric ones are a little bit easier to fold, they're, just not quite as solid, and then we're going to twist wind him up and then we're going to pull down on our little tails. Adjust your little top section. Give it a little press. You can play with it as much as you like at this stage, because it's not going to fall apart, because you've got that nicely bound and once you've got that exactly where you like it. You just flip him over and cut off. Don'T use your good scissors for this just some paper scissors will do and that one's also ready for its little back now the glue that we use to do the rest of the bow to finish the bow is hot glue. So i'm going to take you over to where i've got my hot glue set up and ready to go. So here we are. I'Ve got my hot glue all set up, just a little tip with that, i'm just working at my other well, this is where all serious work gets done. My old work desk and it is just an older table top. So i like to tape down using masking tape, a piece of silicone paper when i'm using my hot glue, because it means that afterwards, i can just gather it all up and throw it in the bin. But also, it means that the the glue gun won't stick to the the surface of the table and so on, because hot glue in itself um. You have to work quite quickly with hot glue now and please excuse my very old hot glue gun but she's been with me for 10 years or more, and she has made thousands and thousands of bows and i refuse to throw her away just because she's. Looking a little old, because if that's what we did, i would be doomed so she's with me until she gives up. So here we go so we're going to start and it is easier in bow making if you get the little the little petite hot glue gun, because it has a much finer end. So we're just going to add our a little alligator clip to the back and i'm just going because i'm using a longer one, this one's 55, like i said you'll, hopefully have the 45, i'm only going to add glue right in the center. Now i'm going to be very mindful of where i'm placing that one on, because i don't want it to show from the front of the bow. So you see i've just pressed it on right. There got ta hold that there for a few seconds, nice and flat, and straight and really press that bow on to that onto that glue. We'Re going to be binding it with a ribbon. So there's there's two positions of strength on this little blow which make it nice and strong so same with the next one and right in the center there and press that one into place and like i said it, can feel a little bit fiddly initially making these Bows but you'll be surprised what your hands get used to doing. It'S just a process and it really does work every time if you follow the little steps so once those are nicely set, then of course you choose your centering ribbon and mine will be pink for this little one. So i'm just going to flip this little one over and i'm able to get my finger inside that loop and pinch that little that little alligator clip open. I hope you're seeing that there and my first bit of glue is going to go right in that clip straight beneath the drawing and i'm going to drop my little ribbon in there. I'Ve cut too much ribbon there, i'm a bit into excess like that. I'D rather have too much than not enough, but i probably only need half as much ribbon just to do this little binding, but i like to have enough to hold on to so. I'Ve pressed that one into place. You can see that there, then i'm going to close that little clip and i'm going to flip my bow over and now i can hold the add a little alligator clip remove all of your glue strings as you go, and my next step is to add a Little stream of glue from the back a little stream of glue straight over the top of that little twisty tie right down the front. It should work fairly quickly, then we're going to grab our little centering ribbon and we're going to pull it down and under, and we're just going to hold on to that to hold that for a few seconds, because hot glue is very quick. That'S exactly why we use it for bow making otherwise you'd be here all day. So now we can flip that one over again and we can check the length that we're going to need. Now i usually cut it the little tail of that ribbon. I usually cut it just to match, lay it over just to match up with the edge of the little clip there. So i've pushed that little edge of that ribbon up i'm going to open my clip, i'm just going to sneak in there with my glue gun and add that last little bit of glue to the tail of that little ribbon and then i'm going to carefully fold That one over and press that one down on that edge close that little clip down and we have it nicely sealed so now the little clip is joined by glue on the back and it's joined by that little binding ribbon. So you know that it's there it's stable and it's safe. So we're just going to add this little one. So the finger in between, i can add, add my little ribbon right in the center flip him over. Add my little stream of glue down the front, pull that one down and up hold that in place lovely to see them come together, they're very exciting to make they're very addictive because you get you get so many ideas with all the different color combinations. So again, we're just going to snip that little ribbon just to line up with the edge of the clip push that little one forward open up our clip again get in there with our glue and just tuck that one in and over into place. I hope you can see all this well hold that one down close, that little clip and we're done so next step is to snip our tails. Now, when i cut the tails of these little ones, i do them on a little diagonal with the points to the insides. I just find that looks the best it sits in the hair, the best um you can do on a larger bow. You can do a little v-cut on these; it tends to it. Just the bow doesn't look as neat and tidy, so it's a little bit small to handle that little v cut. So i find that that little diagonal is the best. So it's just starting at the bottom and we use one clean cut and then you just want to match it up. On the opposite side, it's better to use a larger pair of scissors, so you can do one clean cut. Little scissors will make a jagged cut. So you want a nice clean snip, so you have that one do the same with this little one check that they all match up and then your final step is to take your burner. Your lighter remove all of your glue strings. You want to take your little lighter now. This is the double grosgrain bow, so we're just going to touch the edge with our lighter with that flame, and it's just enough it just slightly melts the edges and you'll be able to feel it. You'Ll be able to feel that it's perfectly sealed and it's never going to fray away so that one's done now, it's different when you're working with the fabric fronted bows, because that's not a nylon, it's a cotton, the the fabric, so it could burn and i've had Them catch a light um, so flip your bow over, so that you're only applying the heat to the back of the grosgrain and look you know if it does have a little scorch mark on it. You can just give it a little trim, but i really just let that drop very briefly over the back of that one. Just enough you can see it slightly changes color and you know that it's sealed and then you don't have any little scorch marks on the front, and so there we go quick and easy. The easiest little bow and i'm sure that you're all going to make thousands of them, i hope you've enjoyed learning one of my very, very favorite favorite little projects. Well, thank you for joining me today. In making up these little bows, i hope you've enjoyed making them. If you have, you could give me a thumbs up. That would be absolutely beaut check out some of my other videos you'll see that i do make some cheerleading bows and so on. There'S quite a few different ones there to choose from you can follow me on instagram. If you like and see some behind the scenes, bits and pieces that i like to do - and sometimes you get a sneak preview of the up and coming tutorials, so make sure that you subscribe, don't miss any of my my next patterns. Lots of free patterns coming your way. Most of all, remember everybody. If something good comes your way, just pay it forward until next time, it's uru for me, you