“I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” Genesis 9:13-16
God made the above promise to Noah when he came out of the ark, after the flood. God promised he would never again destroy all flesh with water from a universal flood. He said he would put his bow in the sky as a reminder of his promise to all mankind. Whenever I see the rainbow in the sky I am reminded of our faithful God. God keeps his promises. What a beautiful bow God displays over our skies sometimes and especially after spring rains.
The type of bow I am going to share with you today has nothing to do with God’s bow nor His precious promises, but they are useful in making things look prettier. Bows are used for many projects and they can be very expensive, if you purchase them premade. A less expense way is DIY bow making.
There are many types of bows, and many ways to make them. There are many kinds of bow makers, and I have several of them, but I learned to make bows years ago without a bow maker. I like making bows using this method best of all, and I would like to share it with you.
Here is what you will need:
Ribbon
Scissors
Wire (I use floral wire)
Wire cutter
Tape measure
Scotch or masking tape
The first thing I do is tape my tape measure to a table, this way I can measure the ribbon and wire easily.
Measure out 18 inches of wire – this will be used to tie your bow together, and then to tie your bow to what ever you will be using it on.
Next measure off 1 yard of ribbon and cut – this will be used for the center of your bow and for the bow tails that hang down.
Next measure off 3 yards of ribbon and cut – this is your bow.
Start with one end of your ribbon, right side upward as seen below. You can see in the picture below that you start with the right side of ribbon up and overlapping the center. You want the length of each loop to be approximately 9 inches.
Wrap the entire 3 yards around each other as shown. The extra piece of ribbon seen in the picture is for the center of your bow and the tails of your bow.
After you get the 3 yards wrapped, take the one yard of ribbon and fold it in the center, match your ends so that it is even.
Lay the center of the ribbon about 3 inches above the center of your loops as shown. This 3 inches will be your center loop when you are finished and the pieces of ribbon hanging down will be the tails on your bow.
Next you will hold all of the loops and the center loop in one hand, and with the other hand take your scissors and cut through your ribbons about half way. Turn your ribbon over and cut about half way through but make sure you come down approximately 1/4 inch from your first cut. You do not want to cut all the way through and ruin your bow.
Next take the piece of wire you cut previously, start in the middle of the wire, and put it in the slits of the ribbon you have just cut. Pull the wire tight and wind it together to secure the ribbon in place.
Now you have two sections of 6 loops. Start with your most inward loop on one side and pull it outward and twist it, to form your first loop. Continue doing this until you have all your loops pulled out and twisted on one side.
Then go to the other side and do the same as shown here.
After you get all your loops pulled outward and twisted, you are now ready to work with the ends of your ribbons that are hanging down. Fold one of the ribbons in the center as seen in the photo. Then coming up about 1 1/2 inches on the ribbon cut with your scissors from the center point to the outward edge as shown below
Adjust your loops as you desire.
You now have a bow you would be proud to display on any craft project.
You can make a larger bow by using 5 yards of ribbon and making your loops larger.
I like using ribbon with the wire inside, if this ribbon gets slightly mashed you can fix it quite easily by adjusting the wire.
I hope this tutorial will help you make your own bows. Why not try it for yourself?
Blessings,
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Thanks for the step by step instructions with the great photos. You make bow making look so easy that I might actually give it whirl next time I am wrapping!
Kim, thank you so much. I use them in home decorating as well as wrapping. Hope you will try making it.
Thanks for sharing and the instructions for bow making here at Nifty Thrifty Tuesday.
Blessings,
Linda
Thank you for hosting the party.
Hi Jo-Ann!
You just posted this wonderful tutorial at the Bloglovin' Hop on my blog. If you could link up your Bloglovin page instead that would be great.
You can share your tutorial on my linky party which will be live tonight.
So sorry. Thank you for letting me know. Hope you removed it.
My grandmother could make bows like that. Thanks for the instructions! I think I'll give it a try.
I will definitely be pinning this to my "great things to know" board as I am terrible at making bows.
I had no idea how to make a bow.. GREAT tutorial!!
Thanks for sharing this at The DIY Dreamer.. From Dream To Reality!
What a great tutorial – looks great!
Thank you! I seem to keep making the same 3 bows over and over. Nice to add a new one to my repertoire! Saw you over at 5 days 5 ways!
Awesome! Thanks for the great tutorial!
Great tutorial!! Your bow is gorgeous! Thanks for linking up at SweetTalkin' Sunday!
What a great tutorial! I'm terrible at making bows so I usually just have my mom do it. But now I can do it myself! Thanks for linking up to What I Learned Wednesday! I hope you'll come again soon!
We're going to give this a try!! Thanks for sharing this! We're so glad that you linked up to our "Strut Your Stuff Saturday." We hope you'll be back soon. -The Sisters