with two n's: Felt Bows! Felt Bows! Felt Bows!

What is it about girls and bows? We love them as little girls and later as older girls and even sometimes as truly older girls. I have a long history with bows (especially red ones) and these are so simple and versatile. Felt bows can be used to make accessories, adorn other DIY projects, or to dress up a gift! As I go through this DIY I will show variations through the steps for those of you doing headbands or hair clips. Have fun with your bows!

Set Up:

Glue Gun & Glue Sticks
Scissors
Felt Sheets (1 sheet makes 3 bows)
Optional: Hair Clips, Headbands, etc.
Time: Making Mac ‘n Cheese per 3 bows

Step One: Make a Pattern & Cut your pieces!

Make Patterns! I’m all about patterns as you can see from the last post, so yet again if you’d like to keep your bows uniform that you make a pattern that suits your needs. Felt bows require three separate pieces that you can modify as you go. The large bow piece which looks like a tiny bra or swimming goggles, straight pieces for the center, and long pieces for the tails (is that what they’re called?). Tip: If you would like your bow to be more pointy than make the rounded pieces of the main bow diamond shaped instead of oval.

Step Two: Make the base!

Take the bra piece (that’s what we’ll call it) and glue each side to the center, overlapping the second piece on top of the first.

Step Three: Add the tails!

Tip: Cut and adjust the tails after you've glued them down

Tip: Cut a tiny pocket where the middle will fold under

There are several options with tails depending on what you are making. for the simple bow with a triangular tail you will cut your tail piece in half and glue the halves together like a triangle, then you will cut and adjust them as needed. Glue the middle section where the two pieces meet to the back of your bow's base. HEADBAND VARIATION: If you are doing a headband I strongly recommend keeping your tail piece flat and gluing the center of it directly to the headband as pictured below. You will then need to glue down the center of your bow base to the tail.

Tip: Put the glue directly on the headband then pinch the center of the tail piece.

Step Four: Add the center!

There will be a few variations here. All bow centers will start the same. put a strip of glue down the center of your bow's base and vertically glue the center piece down.

For any other bow you will be gluing similarly to the headband, for the hair clip you will add a clip. Put a strip of glue on the underside of your bow and pull one side of the center piece tightly around your base and glued down. Allow this piece to dry and then snip off the excess felt. Repeat this with the other side of the center piece. For headbands: make sure that you pull the center piece tightly around the head band. For hair clips: Clip the clip onto the center piece where you would like it to sit. Place glue on the underside of your centerpiece around where the base of the clip is. Let it dry, then clip the excess felt. Repeat this for the other side of the center.

Tip: The tighter you pull the center pieces on the headband the more "bow like" your headband bow will appear.

Step Five: You're done!

Once you get the hang of these you can knock them out like crazy and do variations with them! Play with the bows as much as you like. Use them for everything! Go Bow crazy!!