Mini 3/8 Boutique Bow (video)

These tiny bows are so cute and a must-wear for the little ones! Cute with pigtails but also cute on their own as a tiny, sweet bow. We love them! Fluffy bows are great, but a cute ribbony bow is such a fun, sweet, retro-inspired break from the big bows. Have fun, Ribbonistas!

MATERIALS:

• 18 inches of 3/8 inch ribbon
• Matching covered alligator clip (alligator clip + 6 inches of 3/8 inch ribbon)
• 3/8-inch matching for the knot
• Glue gun
• Upholstery thread
• Scissors
• Lighter

INSTRUCTIONS:

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Match your ends then fold your matching ends down 2 inches from the top, taking the loop you’ve made at the bottom, fold this to create a crease. Take the next loop and repeat this step. We are making 5-evenly spaced creases across our ribbon so that when we go to fold our bow, we will have symmetrical loops.

Now to fold our Boutique Bow. Take your right-most crease, fold over the one next to it. Take your Third crease, fold on top of the same move. Take your fourth loop, fold it over and send the crease between your two top layers. Then bring your last move up on top of your bow, placing your final crease down over all the rest of your creases. This is your bow! Adjust until you like it and then clip all layers into place just a little right of center.

Pulling your thread, wrap it around the center of your bow, hugging the knot at first, then pulling to help the thread crease your bow after about 3 or 4 loops around the center. Make sure this thread is going through the direct center of your bow! Tie off your knot on the back and trim the loose ends away.

Now it’s time to wrap our alligator clip. Taking about 6 inches of matching grosgrain, just start on the inside of your clip and move around the clip, always pressing the ribbon firmly over the glue to make sure it seals down. When you are taking your ribbon around your clip, you want to be sure to pull ribbon to the furthest anchor point BEFORE you push your ribbon onto the glue. This makes sure your moves are straight and your ribbon is not warped. Trim your excess and put your clip aside. Seal the ends if you like!

Now, taking a loose end from your spool, you’re going to make an overhand knot really close to the end of your ribbon. We’re doing this from the spool so we do not waste a lot of ribbon in order to make our knot! Glue your knot down to the front of your bow to make sure it’s centered - because this knot is so small, we want to be sure it’s placed on the center. Small bows need extra attention! Trim your ends - you may want to be more conservative than we have been - we have a lot of excess! - and wrap them very tight around the back and glue down to back of bow. Make sure you like the front of your bow before you glue down.

Now placing glue on the sloped top edge of your alligator clip, glue your bow down and you’re all done! If you like, Trim your ends like we did by making a perfectly vertical cut towards the corner of your end.

And you’re all done! These little pigtail bows are so adorable for baby bows. You’ll love how loopy they look when you put them on! You can find all of these supplies and so much more at ribbonandbowsohmy.com. Thank you so much for watching!