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Friday, December 28, 2012

DIY- Sew a Bow

Hey guys, so I wanted to show everyone how I sew bows - mostly for my hair but these suckers can be used for anything. You can make this bow as big or as small as you want and can sew it all by hand. I use a sewing machine for most of this project - until the very end. Also, I am very sorry about the quality of photographs… Now I know to use my good camera from now on.
Anyways lets get started! Here is what you are going to need.
  • Fabric of any kind, or an old shirt. I am using a vintage velvet tank.
  • Scissors (FABIC SCISSORS WORK BEST!)
  • Marker
  • Thread and Needle (And Sewing Machine if wanted)
Ok so ugly side facing you, draw a rectangle of any size on your fabric of choice. If you are using a shirt like me, just turn it inside out. If you are using a sheet of fabric, I recommend you cut outside the rectangle generously, and trim it down after sewing (do the same with another piece, and slap them down together pretty side touching, ugly facing out). Also.. make sure you can see the line unlike me! I should have used a sliver marker.
 Ok great, now either by hand or machine sew on the lines you made. I used a simple line stitch. 
After you sew the 2 pieces of fabric, or the two sides of the shirt together, cut out your shape, as close to the stitch as possible without ruining it. Make sure to cut out rounded corners so that they turn out crisp!
Now, pinch each side, and puff out your shape like a bag of popcorn.
Make a small vertical cut on only ONE of the sides, and then turn the whole thing inside out. Make sure you poke your finger into the corners to make sure they look as best as possible.
Now cut out a little strip of your fabric to go in the middle of your bow. This is going to give the bow its shape. Because I am using a fabric like velvet, which is prone to fraying, I folded over the sides. If you are using cotton, like tee shirt fabric, just stretching it will probably do the trick.
I decided to hand sew this part, since I figured it would be hard to use a machine for this. Wrap the strip around your bow, and form the bow shape. Once you are satisfied with your bow, sew the strip together as close as to the bow as possible and cut of the excess fabric.
Woo! If you just wanted a bow you are done! :D I added a big hair clip. You can sew a pin if wanted too! 
So it came out kinda HUGE!…
Ew, I am not looking my best, what if I just left it as a bowtie.. like a sir ? :{D
Anyways, besides my awkward pictures I hope everything thing turns out well for you (: Just feel free as ask questions and send me your versions
LOOK, here is a smaller version I did from a tee shirt, the cool thing is that I was able to hide my hair clip inside the vertical cut I made.
Enjoy,

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