- One Three Inch Piece of Craft Wire For Formal Bow, Two For Informal Bow, Three for a Double Bow
- Long Wired or Unwired Ribbon
- Wire Cutter
- Scissors
How to Make a Single Bow Steps
- Set the three inch piece or pieces of craft wire aside.
- Take your ribbon off of the spool.
- Straighten the ribbon out.
- Pinch the ribbon a foot or two from the end leaving a tail.
- Make a loop starting from the point where you pinched the ribbon.
- If your ribbon does not look identical on both sides, twist the ribbon over before you make your next loop.
- Make another loop.
- Test to see if the loops are even by inserting a finger in each loop and pulling straight up.
- Repeat process of making loops until you have an even number of loops.
- Create center of the bow:
- Formal Bow:
- Make a very small loop.
- Thread the wire through the inside of the small loop and around all of the other loops.
- Twist the wire together to hold the loops in place.
- Informal Bow:
- Place the wire around the loops and twist it together.
- Take one of your bow tails and wrap it around the center of the bow.
- Thread wire through the wire holding the loops together and around the bow tail in the back of the bow.
- Twist the wire together.
- Spread the loops of the bow out.
- Fold the bottom of one of the bow tails in half.
- Cut the bow tail diagonally. Start cutting from the folded part aiming your scissors down away from the bow.
- Cut the other bow tail in the same way making the tail longer, shorter or the same length.
How to Make a Double Bow Steps
- Set the three inch piece of craft wire aside.
- Take the ribbon you want for the back bow off of the spool.
- Straighten the ribbon out.
- Pinch the ribbon a foot or two from the end leaving a tail.
- Make a loop starting from the point where you pinched the ribbon.
- If your ribbon does not look identical on both sides, twist the ribbon over before you make your next loop.
- Make another loop.
- Test to see if the loops are even by inserting a finger in each loop and pulling straight up.
- Repeat process of making loops until you have an even number of loops.
- Put a wire around the loops.
- Twist the wire together to hold the loops in place.
- Spread the loops out.
- Fold the bottom of one of the bow tails in half.
- Cut the bow tail diagonally. Start cutting from the folded part aiming your scissors down away from the bow.
- Cut the other bow tail in the same way making the tail longer, shorter or the same length.
- Set the bow aside.
- Take the ribbon you want to use for the front bow off of the spool.
- Straighten the ribbon out.
- Pinch the ribbon a foot or two from the end leaving a tail.
- Make a loop starting from the point where you pinched the ribbon that is smaller than the loops you made for the back bow.
- Check to make sure the loops of the new bow you are making are smaller than the loops on the first bow you made.
- Twist the ribbon over if it does not look the same on both sides.
- Make a second loop.
- Test to see if the loops are even by inserting a finger in each loop and pulling straight up.
- Make another set of loops that is a bit smaller than the first set of loops you made.
- Continue making sets of loops that are a bit smaller than the ones you made before until you have made an even amount of loops.
- Make a small loop.
- Thread a wire through the center loop and around the center of the bow.
- Twist the wire together to hold the loops together.
- Spread the loops out.
- Fold the bottom of one of the bow tails in half.
- Cut the bow tail diagonally. Start cutting from the folded part aiming your scissors down away from the bow.
- Cut the other bow tail in the same way making the tail longer, shorter or the same length.
- Place the front bow on top of the back bow.
- Take a piece of wire and thread it through the small loop on the front bow and around the center of both bows.
- Twist the wire together to hold the two bows together.