fifteen hair bows - a tutorial

Oversized hair bows are all the rage right now for cheerleading, baton and dance. Of course Saucy wanted to get her hands on some for the Cheerios and did a little investigation on the internet. But the online stores selling bows made with pennies worth of ribbon were way too expensive.

So this frugal Saucy set off to Wal Mart and the dollar store for some supplies to make fifteen flouncy, oversized bows. But she knew they had to be sturdy. They need to survive jumping, stunting and tumbling.

The supplies:

For the basic bow:

For the center part of the bow where it is cinched in the middle:

Saucy decided that good old scrapbooking double-faced tape from the dollar store would adhere the striping ribbon to the wide ribbon - it did the trick.

Saucy's no math whiz and Loopy was at school for the afternoon so she simply "guesstimated" and folded the long strips into threes and cut them like that into equal pieces. It worked out well. Besides, these are hair bows, it's not, like, an exact science.

Tip: don't over-tighten the zip tie at this point. Grab another zip tie and ensure that it can still slip under the tightened tie you attached to the bow... we will be using the same zip ties to attach these to the ponytails... it's a fail proof way to secure them and they will not fall out during the routine.

Don't forget to use something along the tails of the bow such as Fray-Check or, if you have some on hand, clear nail polish works wonders.

You can also dab hot glue on the inside of the bow, underside or wherever you would like to secure it into a nice shape.

And the best part? All fifteen bows cost about the same as one bow at retail price. No kidding. Saucy should start making cheer and dance bows on Etsy. Or, her readers could just use this tutorial.

You're welcome.

** PS. (Added November 2010)... the tutorial on how to make korker cheerleading bows for the next season can be found on my blog here.