Hairbow craft-palooza: part 1

Little girls love hairbows and most would gladly get a new one every time you go shopping. As a responsible parent you know you can't buy new hair "pretties" every time you go out. As a DIY'er you also know that there has to be a way to make your own.

I have made several different hairbows that are easy to make at home. I will show you two here and coming up soon, I will post more. Many of these are easy enough that your little girl can help you make them. We will be using scissors and glue guns for some of them so make sure to use proper supervision when doing these crafts with your little girl.

Over the next few weeks I'll be presenting you with some of these ideas. Today I will show you how to make bows using balloons and basic curling ribbon like you use for gift wrap. These two are the easiest and probably the best for your little girl to help with.




Balloon bow

For this bow you will need a plain metal barrette form that you can find at any craft store and a bag of balloons. I used the type of balloons that are used to making balloon animals. This also works well with smaller water balloons but they are harder to tie.

1. Disassemble the barrette form. The have three parts that are very easy to take apart and put back together. Doing this makes it much easier to work with.
2. If you are using the animal balloons, cut them in half and use the halves with the end you blow them up with.
3. Now you simply tie balloons around the barrette using double knots. To add more if is seems kind of sparse tie them in with the balloons you already tied on.
4. Reassemble the barrette and you have an adorable and fun balloon hairbow for your little girl

Curling ribbon

For this bow all you need is another barrette form and your choice of curling ribbon colors and a pair of scissors. I used two colors of ribbon but use as many as you want.

1. Disassemble the barrette to make it easier to work with.
2. Cut 28 inch pieces of ribbon. I used 32 pieces for mine but you may need more if your ribbon is narrower.
3. Tie the ribbon onto the barrette form as close together as you can with double knots, alternating the colors.
4. Once you have all the ribbons on curl them with your scissors. This is a job best done by a grown-up.
5. Reassemble the barrette form and you have your bow.

Next time we will make a bow with crocheted dollies, so keep a look out for the post next week. For a sneak peak at next week's project, see the picture at the beginning of this post. I will also be showing you how to make bows with silk flowers, pom-poms, small wooden hearts and wooden clothes pins over the next few weeks. Maybe there will even a few more if I come up with more ideas. So stay tuned and have fun making your own pretties for your little girl.