Feb 16, 2011

“Curly Q” Bows tutorial

Good Morning everyone!  My name is Misty Willis, and I am SUPER EXCITED to be part of the Simply Renee Clip-It-Up team and sharing my very first official post with you!  It is such an honor!

One of my FAVORITE Clip-It-Up organizers is the 36” Ribbon Organizer.  It holds a TON of ribbon…TRUST ME!  And me, having a severe ribbon addiction, had no trouble filling up this baby!  (YES!  I do have more than you see! )  When It arrived, I immediately hung it on my wall and started filling it up!  I have a lot of ribbon on the rolls, but I also buy the ribbon by the yard, meaning NO ROLL!  I loved having the clips to hang all of my beautiful ribbon on! This made all of my ribbon easily accessible and I could SEE what I had! It was  longer a jumbled mess in a tote for me to have to sift through!  I could see all of my colors, sizes, and patterns hanging right in front of me!  I also realized that I am out of WHITE ribbon!   I use a LOT of plain white ribbon in all sizes…and I am totally out! I would not have known that prior to my Clip it Up ribbon Organizer!  LOVE IT!

image

Now…with all of my ribbon neatly hung and organized on my new Handy Dandy Ribbon Organizer, I felt an overwhelming urge to get creative!  I decided to make a couple of hair bows for my 5 year old to wear on Valentine’s Day.   Her favorite style of bow is the Korker…which she lovingly refers to as her “Curly-Q Bow”.  So, I picked my ribbon (which was sooooo easy with it all right in front of me!) And I set to work.

You will need:

  • ¼  inch dowel rods ( I buy a pack of 12 in the craft section)
  • 3/8 inch ribbon (I prefer grosgrain)
  • 24 wooden clothespins
  • Baking sheet
  • 6 inch piece of  coordinating ½ inch (or larger) ribbon
  • clothespins

The best size dowel for making Korker ribbon is a ¼” dowel.  You can experiment with other sizes, but I prefer this one.   You will also need clothespins for securing the ribbon to the dowels. For this example I am using 3/8” Grosgrain Ribbon. Preheat your oven to 275 Degrees  and then begin wrapping your ribbon around your dowels.   Simply secure one end of your ribbon to one end of a dowel using a clothespin.  Wrap to the opposite end, cut, and secure the end.  You now have both ends secured  around the dowel. Wrap all of your dowels with your ribbons in the same manner, then place all of them on a baking sheet. (Mine is a little discolored, as I use it A LOT!!)

image

image

Place your dowels in the oven and bake at 275 Degrees for approximately 25 minutes.  When you pull them out of the oven, let the clothespins and dowels cool for about 10 minutes, and then you can remove the ribbons.  It should resemble this:

image 
My dowels are 12 inches long, which gives me 12 inch long curls of ribbon.  It is now time to begin cutting.
You can cut in 3 inch, 4 inch or 6 inch lengths…it all depends on how full you want your bow to look. 
For this bow set, I chose to cut 4 inch lengths of ribbon, so EACH curl of ribbon got cut at the 4 inch mark.

image

Once I have all of my ribbon cut, I then  separated the strands evenly to create 2 complete matching bows.  OR…..You can add ALL strands together and create a very full and poofy bow!

I use size 10 cotton crochet thread and quite literally tie a secure knot in the center.  I wrap the cotton thread several times around the center, tying knots as I go.    The more times your wrap the thread and tie a knot, the more secure your ribbons will be.

image 
image

You will then use your 6 inch piece of ½ ribbon to wrap around the center and secure in place for the center knot.  You simply tie a knot in the length of ribbon, and wrap it around the same spot as the cotton thread…securing it in place with hot glue. 

Here, I have already wrapped my ribbon and secured my preferred clip in place using a glue gun.  Be sure not to get glue on the moving parts of your clip!    You will want to seal the ends of your ribbons at the cut marks to prevent fraying.  I prefer a heat seal, so I use a lighter…but you can use fray check if you prefer that method.


image

image

Now that you have your ribbons sealed, secured, and the center knot in, it is time to add any embellishments your heart desires!  Bling, buttons, beads…pretty much ANYTHING can be added to the bow at this point…by simply sewing or gluing it on.  I chose to keep it simple, though, and only add a simple heart.

image

My Daughter absolutely ADORED her Valentine hair bows!  As did all of her class mates and teachers.  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and can make your own special little munchkin a “Curly Q” Bow now!  I would LOVE to see your creations if you do decide to try it! 

image  image

Misty

Need a way to organize hair bows?  We have a great idea for you.  Check out this post:

http://simplyreneeinc.blogspot.com/2009/08/organize-hair-bows.html

21 comments:

  1. Those curly Q's are so adorable!! Thanks for the tutorial! Love it! Will have to remember that for my grandaughter. Love my 36" ribbon clip it up too!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Misty, your bows are absolutely adorable! I MUST have some of those for my daughter, when she gets a bit older and has enough hair :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very cute - my daughter wore tons of bows when she was younger - we had them in every color to match all of her outfits. She is now 19 and not into wearing them anymore - go figure! I miss those days - wish I would have known how to make my own back then, I would have saved a ton of money!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Renee,
    Such a cute idea. Love it!!

    Kelly
    Second Hand Chicks

    ReplyDelete
  5. I LOVE your bows Misty! I never would have thought to combine my love for baking and crafting. I'm so excited to try making some of these bows for my girls. Thanks so much for the tutorial! I love my 36" ribbon organizer as well. I also did not have a problem filling it up and love how all my ribbon looks on display. =)

    ReplyDelete
  6. OMW....so cute Misty!

    ReplyDelete
  7. These are SO SO cute!!! If my girls' were littler I would be making them!!! We used to have a ton of bows!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. oh yum those are awesome Misty!! Super adorable little one as well!

    ReplyDelete
  9. WOW Misty! That is so awesome! I never knew how to make ANY hair bows before. I will definitely have to try this. My daughter would go nuts!! My fave photo is the one after you took the ribbon out of the oven. They look so cool all curled up! Great post! TFS!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wowwwwwwwwwwwww! This is AWESOME Misty!!! LOVE IT! :):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I never really looked to close at the ribbon organizer, because I have very few rolls of ribbon, but love how you have the other ones hung..maybe I do need one of these! lol

    Your daughter is too cute!

    I am off to check out your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I NEVER knew you could heat the ribbon like that!!! What a fantastic idea!!! LOVE the bows! I'm gonna try some this weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I have seen these but never knew how it was done....thank you for showing us how....these will be prefect for my granddaughter.....your DD is gorgeous....thank you again....

    ReplyDelete
  14. This are so cute!! Thank you for the tutorial. I will have to make some for my granddaughters.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I absolutely LOVE your 36" ribbon organizer...I'm definitely going to have to purchase one for myself!!! Your bows and your daughter are sooo adorable, thanks for this hair bow tutorial! :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks for the GREAT tutorial!! I wish my DD was little again and would wear those bows because I LOVE THEM!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks for the GREAT tutorial!! I wish my DD was little again because I LOVE those bows!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Those are so cute!!! I've bought so many of the corker bows, now I think I'll give it a try myself!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. The things you do never seem to amaze me. They are so cute. I know I will have to try this for my girls. Thanks so much for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Holy Cow! That looks easy enough and soooo cute!!! TFS~

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...