Good evening! This past week I was craving a project, but was limited on time. When putting my daughter to bed in her new Minnie Mouse pajamas, she pointed out Minnie’s bow and asked for a polka dot bow like Minnie’s. Making hairbows is fun,  relatively straightforward, and has virtually endless possibilities–I found my craft for the night 🙂

I didn’t have any super wide polka dot ribbon on hand, but I found some that would suffice; also a couple accessories that I had forgotten about that proved to be fun additions. The photo at the top shows the four hairclips I created that night. For instructions on how to create your own hairbows, read on!

To construct the bow itself, I prefer to use needle and thread. There are a few ways to do this; some tutorials I found helpful are at Notes From The Patch and Pretty Prudent. Or, you could try my streamlined method outlined below.

To get an idea of how much ribbon to cut, I like to first loosely construct the bow by hand. I don’t use the same measurements every time because I work with several different types and widths of ribbon, which may look better or worse as different size bows. So, I eyeball it. After cutting to size, use a candle/flame to seal the cut edges of the ribbon.

Next, I assemble the bow using one of the methods linked above, or, if I have already pinched the ribbon to my liking, I insert a threaded needle through the center of my pinched ribbon, and wrap it around 3-4 times before tying it off.

To complete the bow, cut a piece of coordinating ribbon just a little longer than the length around the center of the bow. On the backside of the bow, use a dot of hot glue to adhere one end of the ribbon, wrap the ribbon around the center, and use another dab of glue to secure the opposite end in place. Trim excess ribbon.

The last step is to adhere the bow to a hairclip. I found these hairclips at a local beauty supply store, Sally’s, and paid $6.39 for 100. To add a little extra to the look, I often use hot glue to cover the clips with 3/8″ ribbon (start the ribbon on the inside of the clip, glue it around the outside, and end back in the middle). To add the bow to the clip, apply a thick strip of hot glue to the clip, center it on the backside of the bow, and press in place until cool.

Tada! All finished! Simple, right?

Thanks for viewing, I hope that you enjoy this project as much as I do!