When I first started to learn how to make bows, I bought one of those plastic bow making things from Wal-Mart. It didn’t improve my bow making skills whatsoever. I finally found a book with good pictures and with practice, I was able to make decent looking bows.
It really isn’t all that hard to do. I prefer using ribbon with the wire edges because it makes it so much easier to get a perfect looking bow.
What you will need. Scissors and your choice of ribbon. It doesn’t have to be this wide ribbon.
First, make the center loop. Crimp the edges in and hold with your thumb and index finger.
Take the ribbon and make a loop on one side, making sure that the correct side of the ribbon is facing up. Crimp the edges and tuck that under your other thumb and index finger with the center loop.
Repeat on the other side, flipping the ribbon to make it right side up. To make sure that the loops are even you can pull both of them up and hold them side by side.
Next, make the second loop on the beginning side.
Repeat on the opposite side.
Make the third loop on each side.
Unroll some extra ribbon to make the tails of the bow and cut it from the roll.
Take the end of the ribbon and place it on the back of the bow. You can secure this with either some thin floral wire or some extra ribbon, which is what I prefer.
Pull the securing wire ribbon up through the center loop. Tie it off in the back.
Then you need to cut the ribbon for the tails. Cut the ribbon hanging down directly in the middle.
Next, take one of the tail ribbons and fold it in half lengthwise.
Cut it on an angle.
This is the easiest way to get nice even looking tail ends.
That’s all there is to it.
This bow only has three loops on each side, but you could add a fourth if you wanted to. It is all up to you. If you were using a ribbon that had a smaller width, you would probably want more loops.