Hi everyone!
Wow, we have a fabulous tutorial for you today. Nana Connie has done us proud with this one as I'm sure you'll agree.
So...over to Nana Connie!
********************
As part of my DT commitment with
Scribble & Scrap,
I get to do a tutorial once every 10 weeks or so. So two things
inspired today's post. Volunteering to be the first of the DT members
to do a tutorial for Scribble & Scrap was one, and the other was
more personal. For many moons now I've been promising to do a tutorial
about the bows I make by the dozens and toss into my stash for future
use. It was impossible to do the steps and photograph them at the same
time without a much more sophisticated system than I have. But, now
that I live in the same city as my daughter and her family, I recruited
some help. Thanks, daughter dear. :-D You're the best!
I should note that for those of you who either don't have a needle
and thread or don't want to ever sew anything, you can buy these types
of bows at most of your local fabric shops in packages of 4 or 5. They
tend to be expensive if you use as many as I do on your cards and
projects. Being somewhat budget conscious and loving to sew, I learned
to make these by taking apart one of those I bought and figuring out how
to make them myself. It took some practice, so don't give up after the
first one. I can now make about 15 of these in an hour. Making them
myself also means that I have a much wider variety than just blue,
white, and pink, which is mostly I see in the fabric stores.
What you will need:
Ribbon
Needle
Thread - matching the color of the ribbon (For demo purposes, I used black ribbon and white thread)
Small pearl or other decorative bead
Scissors for trimming ribbon tails
For the photographs, I used 5/8ths inch wide ribbon but I usually
use 3/8ths inch for the bows and that results in a tighter "middle" of
the bow. You can actually use any size or style of ribbon you choose
but 'softer' ribbon works better than stiff ribbon.
Step 1. -- Cut a length of ribbon about 4 inches long (for 3/8ths inch
ribbon -- longer for wider ribbon. You'll be trimming it at the end.)
Fold it as though you were doing a "remember" ribbon, with a loop
sticking up above the crossed tails. The loop should be twice the
length which you want for your finished bow loops (both measured
together.) Photo 1a isn't actually anything you're going to do but is
there to show you that getting your needle in the exact center of the
loop is vital! What you will do is fold the very top of the loop down
to the
back of the center spot where the tails cross.
Step 2. -- Bring your needle and thread up from the back in the exact
center of the crossed tails. This will be done holding it in your hands
but we had to lay it our on the table for photographic purposes.
Step 3. -- Wrap the thread around and around the mid-point (top to
bottom), pulling it as tightly as possible. The tighter the wrap, the
smaller the middle and the closer together the tails will be when
finished. I've done two different angles just to give you a view of how
it would look when completely wrapped.
Step 4. -- Bring the needle and thread from the back side up through the
right side loop, close to the wrapped middle. Add the pearl bead and
pull the thread through.
Step 5. -- Push the needle and thread down through the left side loop,
again close to the middle, pulling it tightly and centering the pearl.
Step 6. -- Sew a "tie-off" of the thread at the back of the bow, keeping
the pearl as tightly against the bow as possible. Clip the thread.
Step 7. -- Trim off the excess tails to make them the appropriate size
for your bow. Some people like longer tails so trim them to your
preference. I happen to prefer shorter tails on the small bows I make
which are approximately 1/2 inch across and only a smidgen taller than
that. Here's a photo of a finished bow I did using the 3/8ths ribbon.
You'll notice that the tails are much closer together when I don't
have them deliberately spread out to photograph the various steps.
However, I will advise you that either stiffer ribbon or wider ribbon
will result in a wider spread between the tails and a larger mid-point
because there is more ribbon in the wrapped center. It's just not
possible to wrap that much ribbon as tightly so you won't get a really
tight mid-point.
That doesn't mean the wider bow isn't exactly what you want on your
project. I have done many bows in different sizes and styles. But
when I sit for an entire weekend afternoon and sew these little bows
together for my stash, I tend to do the smaller, tighter bows mainly
because I have a ton of pearl beads in the smaller size and I intend to
get rid of them by making as many bows as possible over the next decade!
:-D It'll take that long to use them up. Experiment with the basic
idea and come up with something that totally pleases you. It doesn't
have to be what I make.
Have a great day, my crafty friends.
NanaConnie
