DIY Hair Bow Holder Tutorial

After sewing 6 dress up ponchos and making 2 new sewing patterns today, I was totally burned out on sewing.  I decided to look for an apple hair bow to make for Kamille's apple orchard field trip on Friday.  Looking through photos of hair bows inspired me to get moving on a project I have been wanting to do for a while - hair bow holders. 

I have about 5 tutorials/ideas here for making your own holders.  Call me crazy or just plain cheap but I almost had a heart attack when I saw that people were paying $10-$30 for these things.  I get it, the hand painted ones have some work involved (not as much as you think - I just painted an entire play kitchen in 2 hours).  But, seriously, this is a NO SEW - Hot glue project that is ideal for using up scraps you have around the house.  This one is really a freebie if you are a crafter because you probably have all of this stuff.  If not, you could get everything you need: glue gun, felt, appliques, flowers, ribbon, hot glue sticks, beads, etc. from the dollar store. So, even if you have to buy everything, you can make a fancy hair bow holder for less than $10 easily.  I think that these would be great birthday or Christmas gifts.  I might make a fancy one for each girl in preschool for Christmas.  

All of these were made with stuff I have lying around the house.  I also want you to keep in mind that you could make this with a LETTER INITIAL - They sell them already painting at Michael's, JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby - Plus a million other places.  I think I have seen them at Meijer.  So, you could just glue to ribbon onto that and have a personalized hair bow holder.

You could also use the little mini canvases.  I made a couple into photo frames with some scrapbook papers. 

mytatteredangels.com - one of my favorite blogs for mixed media/scrapbooking has this great little canvas just to give you an idea of what I am talking about, but you could just use one of the prepainted canvases - they are everywhere.  I know Target had little prepainted canvases that matched Kamille's comforter and I have seen them with initials and many other things.

But, you could really get into this project and make a beautiful canvas with a family photo and then glue the ribbons down from that. 

Upcycled CD 

For this project I made the standard round hair bow holder.  Instead of painting it, I used felt. 

I traced around a CD and the cut my felt out - 2 layers.

I cut a length of 2 types of ribbons. One is fatter than the other so I can layer them. 

I glued the double layer of ribbon down onto the back piece of felt.  I left a tail at the top about 1" so that I can put a nail in it to stick in on the wall.  Then I glued over the whole backing piece.

 I stuck the CD down onto the backing piece and then I glued to front piece of felt down.  This way I used up a useless old CD and made a stiff and perfectly round circle for my hair bow holder.



 

Now it's time to decorate.  I didn't feel like putting an initial down so I just ironed on a glitter heart applique I had.  If you wanted an initial, you can buy many different premade varieties or you can just print out the size and style of letter you want to a word processing program and use it as a pattern piece to cut out the monogram out of fabric. 

Then I glued down a big bow.  I am going to tell you how to make corker ribbon now.  It's so easy (but you could just buy a fancy bow at the dollar store)

Take the ribbon you want to use and clip it onto a small dowel.  You can get a 20 pack for a couple of bucks at the craft store in the wood section.  You can use binder clips of clothes pins.  It doesn't matter.  Twist it around in a spiral.  Bake this in the oven on a cookie sheet (I cover mine in fresh foil just in case there is any residue on it) at 200 for 20 minutes.  Once the pieces are cool, unwind it.  The ribbon will stay twisted up.  Secret revealed.

Then I just tie a few short pieces of the corker ribbon onto a bow.  Seal the ends of the ribbon with a lighter to keep them from fraying. 

This isn't the best photo, but I also glued a small bow at the bottom.  It took me about 10 minutes (the bows were already made and sitting around here).

Premade Wooden Bow Holder

 

I also have a bunch of prepainted wooden dodads lying around.  They are like $1.00 already painted at the craft store. 

I basically did the same thing. 

I took the painted wooden bird and glued a bow onto her head.  Then I glued my ribbons onto the back and put a bow on the bottom. 

I added some buttons to make it a little cuter. 

Photo Frame Bow Holder

This is a little 4x6 frame that would work well holding baby bows or little barrettes.  I would use a bigger frame for bigger girls.  I had this one lying around.  I actually saw a really beautiful one that used a really ornate frame and I might make something similar for Kamille dress-up area. 

I started out with a frame and removed the glass and cardboard.  I put it face down on some fleece (because I have it and I am out of batting).  I used 2 layers to give it some fluff. 

Then, I glued the fleece onto the frame base.  See how I cut it a little smaller that the back of the frame.  If you don't it will be too bulky and it won't fit back into the frame. 

Next, I took a piece of fabric (if you are making this for a baby - use one of the receiving blankets you got.  I had sooo many that just went unused.)

 I glued it on to the back gift wrap style. 

Then I cut a few pieces of ribbon (rick rack would have been cuter, but I'm out).  And tacked those down on the back of the frame backing.  This is where you clip the bows so you don't want to glued onto the front, only the back. 

Then I shoved the whole thing back into the frame.  It took a while to get it in there because of the bulk, but I did.  I glued a bow onto the top just to give it a girly touch. 

TUTU HAIR BOW HOLDER

Everyone has seen this one.  It is actually really easy to make and there are so many things that you can do.  It would have been super cute with some flowers added onto it, but it is getting late and my enthusiasm is waning. 

I freehand sketched out the shape of the bodice onto a piece of cardboard (it's a mailing envelope I am recycling because I get about 10 of these a week in the mail from clients.  I hate throwing them out.)

 I cut it and 2 layers of fabric out at the same time.  Then, I glued one of the pieces of fabric down as the backing. 

 I used tulle by the spool (it's a buck) to cut several lengths of tulle for the tutu skirt. 

 I folded the tulle in half lengthwise and then glued it down onto the cardboard.  On top of that I glued a few strips of ribbon for more decoration.

Then, I glued down the front piece of fabric over the whole thing.  I pushed it down to have less bulk where the tulle is.  I glued down some trims to make it more decorative.  You could also use bows, flowers, gems, etc.  I glued a handle onto the back with a little loop of ribbon

 Now the bows can clip onto the ribbons and you have a cute tutu style holder. 


HAPPY CRAFTING!