Felt Bow Tutorial

bow bookmark

bobby pin bow

Have you ever thought you came up with an idea, only to find out there were 87 people that thought of it before you? Yeah, that's the case with these cute little felt bows. This tutorial from Simple Serendipties is my favorite of the 87. I am a sucker for anything using felt (25 cents a square is hard to beat) and we already had bobby pins and paperclips just laying around our apartment. Literally, laying around. As in on countertops, book shelves, lazily chillin' on the coffee table....you get the point. Sorry Mom, I will be a better housekeeper soon, I promise. In this case, I simply embraced our untidiness and got busy.

You will need:
scissors
hot glue gun
felt square (one square makes about 15 bows!)
bobby pins/paperclips

Start by cutting three strips of felt in the color of your choice. Cut the first piece about as long as your bobby pin or paperclip and 3/4" wide. Cut the second strip a little longer and the same width as strip #1. Cut the third strip a little bit longer than the second and about 1/4" wide.

 Cut the tails out of piece #1.

Put a line of hot glue down the middle of piece #2, fold the ends in, and press. Be careful not to smush the "loops" down or it won't look very bow-ish.

 Put a dot of glue in the middle of your looped piece and squeeze until the hot glue cools.

 Glue piece #2 onto piece #1.

Very carefully cut piece #1 along the lines of piece #2. I didn't do this with all the ones I made, but found this step made the bows look more "real". This is what it should look like from the back:

Put a dot of glue on the center of the bow and glue piece #3 to the front.  Use the glue sparingly as you don't want it to show.

Turn the bow over and glue piece #3 to the back. Cut off any excess so it won't show from the front.

 (If you are using a paperclip, glue the strips over the clip to secure it into place.)

Put a line of glue down your bobby pin and press it to middle back of the bow. You will have to hold it for about a minute to ensure it dries nice and level.

 Tah dah! Your little pretty is ready to be worn.

These bookmarks will make such great stocking stuffers for the lady bookworms in our family! (Momma and Scarlett, I'm referring to you :) )

Once you get going, you can whip up tons of these cuties in no time at all. I'm going to keep lots on hand for little gifts and favors...so if you receive some from us one day, just pretend like you've never seen them before :). Thanks for stopping by!