Small Scalloped Fabric Bows – My Tutorial

In this tutorial I am making two small scalloped fabric bows. These are the perfect size for a small child (only using one bow) or a larger child who wears pig tails or some other style that you would need two bows. If you only need to make one of these then you will only need the materials to make one. 

Here is what they look like when they are complete.

Materials:

1. Big Shot (do not need this you can cut the circles by hand.) 
2. Circle Die (do not need this if you cut the circles by hand).    
3. Pinking Shears
4. Glue Gun
5. Brad, button or some kind of embellishment. 
6. Fabric Circles
7. Felt Circle for the back
8. Covered Hair Clips

This is how many circles you need to make two bows. 

• 8 – 2” circles
• 8 – 1  1/2” circles

This picture only shows 4 of the 8 circles in both sizes since I had already used my pinking shears on the other circles.

Here are the other 4 of the 8 each circles.  I barely went around the edges of the circle with the pinking shears to give it this look.

Here is the 8 circles of each size.  Note: If you only want to make one of these bows you only need 4 larger circles and 4 smaller circles.

I do this for each circle.  I turn it on its back side and pit a dab of hot glue in the center.

Then I fold the circle in half.

So they are all like this.

1. Then I take my first large piece #1 and put glue on it in a “L” shape (see picture #4 and #7 you can see the glue better on those pictures).
2. After I put the glue on I take another large piece and place it on top of the first piece.
3. Make sure you put glue down on the second piece before you put the third piece down.
4. After you glue the 4th piece (only put the glue in the “L” shape as seen in pic #4)  see picture #5 you will take the bottom of the first piece (orange) and will pull it on top of the 4th piece (see pictures #6 and #7) and glue it like it shows in picture #7.

Note: I usually try to take my two darker pieces and put them on opposite sides and the lighter colors on opposite sides to me it looks better but you can arrange them how ever you want. 

You will do this with the other larger set then the two smaller sets.  You should have two  2” sets and two 1 1/2” sets. You can make them any size you want. 

I then take the smaller sets and place them on top of the larger set how you want them.  If you are using a button them glue the top part to the bottom part if you are using brads then no glue is needed the brads will hold them in place.

Then I figure out what I want to use to decorate the top of them with.  I added another sample set so you can see there is so many color possibilities with these bows.  I decided to use scrapbook brads for the centers of these bows. 

The way these bows are made it really makes it easy to get the brads through the center (since there is already a little hole there).  Take the brad and pull out the sides so it is flat on the back.

Then I take my 1 1/2” felt circles and cover them with hot glue and cover the back side of my bows.

Then I take my ribbon covered hair clips and glue them on the back.

Here is the final results:

I would love to see what you come up with feel free to email me pictures of what you have made using this tutorial if I get several pictures I will post them for everyone to see.

Sizzix Big Shot and Die Questions

I have been receiving a lot of emails with questions re: My Big Shot and the Dies I use to make my bows.

Here is a picture of the big shot I have.  I purchased it at Joann’s on sale for $59.99 normal price is $99.99.  They are on sale a lot  and there are always free shipping codes out there just type in Joann’s coupons in your search.  They do not carry this at the Joann’s store you have to purchase if online.  Click Here for the link to the Big Shot at Joann’s. 

 

Here are a few things you will need if you purchase this Big Shot.  Sizzix® BIGkick & Big Shot Standard Cutting Pads.  These you will use for most dies.  They are $9.99 and go on sale for $5.99.  Just watch for the sales.

 

 

Here is the Sizzix® Bigz XL Cutting Pads  They are $19.99 and go on sale for $11.99.  I use this one for my larger flower dies.  Click here for sample of the bows.  You will not need these pads unless you are planning on getting some larger dies it is good to have on hand though especially when they go on sale. 

 

I purchase a lot of Sizzix dies from Joann’s but remember they need to be the 5/8” thick.  I purchased some of the thinner ones and they would not cut fabric.  Some of the dies on the Joann’s website will not say the thickness on them so I copy the name and paste it in the yahoo search and it will bring me to the Sizzix website where it will tell me the thickness under the description.  After purchasing a die and it not working I am really careful to make sure they are 5/8” thick.  If you purchase something from Joann’s online please remember you can not return it to their store you will have to send it back. 
Here are some of the flower dies from Joann’s I have and know they work. I thought they had more online but I guess not.  I know I have purchased some from the store (remember to take those 40% off coupons). 

Some of my dies have come from Michaels.  One die you will have to get is the circle one (see below) it comes with 4 different size circles.  I use this for my felt backs on my bows and have made a few bows with the circle die they are really cute here are a few of them.  I have seen these at Joann’s and Michaels. 

Here are the dies I have from Michaels:

The Large Flower Folds Bigz Xl Die #115970 was from Stampin Up.  Here is the die. It was $42.95

I will have make a tutorial soon on how to make these flowers below with the flower die. 

As far as where to get this large flower die from you will have to do a search for a demonstrator to purchase it from.  I was not to happy with the person that I purchased my die from so I will not give you her info. 
For those of you who have a Big Shot and use other dies I know there are more dies you can use with the Big Shot please contact me and give me the information or maybe you can write up a tutorial on how they are used with the Big Shot and I will post it here our link it to your site.

My New Fabric & Ribbon Bow Tutorial

I used some fabric and ribbon I already had to make this bow.  The finished bow size is 3” dia. 

Here are the supplies I used to make this bow.  I used the button (I made it to match the bow) in the right hand corner then took it off and ended up using a scrapbook brad for  my center.  I like it a lot better now. 

All the strips of fabric and ribbon are 3” long.  The back and brown and black fabric down at the bottom right side were cut at 1” x 3” then I took my pinking shears and went around the edges so they ended up being 3/4” x 3”.   You can use anything you want to make these bow I do not think you can go wrong.  The felt circle is a 2” dia.  I also used the pinking shears for some of the ribbon on the edges. 

Note: the fabric and felt are black my camera made it look like it has dandruff lol. 

I took my felt and laid my first three strips of fabric in different angles.

Then took my second set of fabric and laid them down.

Then took my thicker ribbon and laid that down. Start placing the other ribbons down until you get the look you want.  After that I took them off and laid them in a row and then one by one glued them  down.  I wanted to see what it looked like before I glued them to make sure it was what I was looking for. 

I then glued the button on.  After I got done with it I decided I did not want to use the button and ended up using a scrapbook brad instead. 

I glued the covered hair clip onto the back. 

Here is the final bow.

My Fabric Flower Bow Tutorial

I usually use my big shot for all my bows but decided to try my idea out and was glad I did.  This one was all by hand and not with my machine that cuts out all my flowers for me.  This bow ended up being approx 3 1/2” dia. finished. 

First cut 4 strips of 1” x 7” of fabric (bottom). Then cut 4 strips of 1” x 5” (middle)and last 4 strips of 1” x 3 1/2” (top) .  I then took my pinking shears and cut the edges (only vertical edges) of the ribbon so they ended up being about 3/4” instead of the 1”.  I also have a 2” felt circle, a button I made to match (did not end up using it though see below) and a covered hair clip.  If you want the bow larger than the 3 1/2 inched then add an inch or more to it. 

I turned the strips of ribbon over so the pattern was facing down and pulled the ends up to the middle and with my glue gun put a dot in the center and glued them down.  Now the backside of the fabric is all in the middle and only the pattern is on the outsides top and bottom.  I left my seam in the middle (you will not see it there).

They are all about 1/2 the size of the original length now.

I took all 4 strips of each pattern and laid them on top of each other  like shown below and glued them together in the middle.  (not to scale in photos below).

After they are all glued I then took them and set them on top of each other and glued them together. 

This is what it looked like with the button I made but I did not like it. 

So I got my buttons and scrapbook brads (I get most of mine at Hobby Lobby in the scrapbook section).  I glued the brad to the center of the button and glued it to my bow.  I bent the prongs off the brad it it would lay flat on the button (all of them have the prongs on the back that will need to be cut off or bend them off. 

Much better with the button and brad. 

Lastly I glued the felt on the back and the covered hair clip.  I did have to take my glue gun and go back in and glue different placed in the bow so it would hold together better.