I haven't made bows in a while, and with my friend Katie having a baby shower, it was the perfect excuse. I decided that along with the bows I wanted to make a bow holder to go with the gift. I wanted to share this on our blog because I was happy with the way it turned out and Iwanted to share how to make one.
Supplies Needed:
16" x 20" Stretched Canvas (I bought this twin-pack)
Fabric - enough to cover the canvas and a few inches on the back (I bought this fabric)
Staple Gun - like this one (I bought it just for this project, and it was very fun to use. If you buy one be sure to also buy staples)
3/8" Grosgrain Ribbon - enough to do whatever pattern you choose (I just used ribbon I had for bow making
Ruler (for measuring along the way)
Instructions:
1. Tear or cut fabric to the correct size of your canvas. I found that tearing was very quick because it doesn't matter if the edges torn. The edges will not be seen at the end.
2. Place fabric on the canvas so that the pattern is straight on the front if there is one. If it is a solid fabric, then it doesn't make as big of a deal. Turn fabric covered canvas upside down so you are looking at the back of the canvas.
3. Now it's time to staple the fabric to the back of the canvas. You are going to be stapling on the wooden frame. I folded the extra fabric over so that when I stapled it the frayed torn edge would be enclosed to give it a finished look. Choose one side to start on, and start stapling the fabric on from the middle of that side and going out on either direction. Leave some space around the corners to do those at the end. Once you get finished with the first side do the side that's opposite from and parallel to the one you just did. Be sure to fold the fabric tight as you staple so the fabric does not bag on the front. When you do the corners you may need to cut some of the excess fabric so the corners don't bulge too much. You do the same thing with the corners as you did on the sides - just be careful to not make the corners too thick with fabric.
3. Now you are ready for the ribbon. You can measure and cut the ribbon beforehand if you would like, or just cut it along the way like I did. I used a ruler to measure a distance that I wanted in between each ribbon. I would then put the end of the ribbon along to the back and staple into place on one end. Before I stapled the other end, I would measure again to make sure it was straight. Then staple the other end into place. The pattern I did was first doing vertical stripes, then I wove the horizontal stripes over and under the vertical. You can choose to do whatever pattern you like.
4. Once I got all of the ribbon stapled I put fray check on all of the ends so they wouldn't fray. You can also used clear nail polish. Or before you staple the ribbon, you could burn the ends.
And that's it! It was a very easy project and I hope I explained it well enough. If you have any questions let me know. I kind of just figured it out as I went along. I was inspired by a picture on etsy.com and just went with it. If I have a little girl, I will definitely make one of these for her. It was very fun, and I was happy with the way it turned out.
These are ideas I got online and I put my own spin on them: For the korker (curly) bows I even baked my own ribbon to make it curly---I am pretty proud...
