Festive felt bow DIY tutorial

So here's my very first DIY tutorial! :)
Tutorials are what I love most about blogs, especially when that tutorial is crafty in nature. I saw some felt bows like this a while back on a blog, but they didn't have a tutorial on how to make them, I think they bought them somewhere & didn't make them themselves. It looked simple enough to give it a try myself.

The directions for this bow will measure approximately 3" by 1". Feel free to tweak my measurements to get the size you want. I found that I should have made the second, bottom part a tad longer to accommodate the barrette so that I had plenty of room to glue it with the glue gun.

I found that my trusty Fiskars rotary paper trimmer worked better (as far as precision cuts) than a fabric rotary cutter and ruler. But if that's all you have, it will work just fine, just go slow and don't use too much pressure or your felt can slide around.


First, here are the supplies you'll need:

-Good quality felt (I got mine on Etsy from Giant Dwarf- so many delicious colors!) One 9x12 piece of felt is enough to make about nine bows.
-Sharp scissors
-Rotary paper trimmer or rotary fabric cutter
-Ruler
-Fabri-Tac or any fabric glue
-28 gauge craft wire
-French style barrettes (mine are 2 1/4 long )
-Glue gun & sticks


















Start by cutting your felt to the following dimensions, you'll need three pieces of felt to make one bow:
3 1/4" x 1" (the bottom ribbon part, cut both ends, see a tip below*)
5" x 1"(find the center and fold the ends toward it, glue the ends down with fabric glue. This is the loopy ribbon part)
3/8" x 2" (the middle part of the bow)

*A quick tip for cutting perfect ribbon ends-- simply fold the end of your felt in half lengthwise, cut a 1/2 inch slit (I made a pencil mark on my scissors where 1/2" was). Then take the ending of your cut and cut directly diagonal to each end tip.



















Pinch the middle part of your loop to coax it into a pleasing bow pucker. This will help you get perfect little bow dimples. Cut a piece of wire & loop it around both pieces (the loopy part on top & the ribbon part underneath) with the ends of the wire under. Start twisting until your desired tautness. Cut the wire off & fold it down. You don't want a huge piece of wire here, keep it fairly short.


















Loop your 3/8" x 2" piece around & under the barrette spring. Keep it taut & secure with fabric glue. Finally, use your glue gun to secure the ends of the barrette to the bow.

And you're done!