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When my oldest girl was a brand new baby (who is now almost 5 years old), I made bows for her head/hair.*
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Lots of them.*
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I got a little tired of telling people that she was a girl, not a boy.* The pink and purple outfits were never distinct enough for people to realize she was a girl.* But if I slapped a little bow on that sweet little head, there was never any mistaking that she was a girl.* Whew.
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I loved making her all those bows so much, that I started a little
bow making business, through a blog.*
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Okay, fess up!* How many of you had your own bow business??)
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* That was almost 5 years ago, WOW………and back when blogs were such a brand new trend.* And “blogging” was pretty much a foreign word.* Remember that?!!* Anyway, I should dig out some of those old pictures to show you what my old hairbow blog looked like.* It was a mess!
* During that time, I made her big bows, little bows, loopy bows, flat bows, and every color of the rainbow bows.* That girl had a bow for every outfit.* Whew……I had a lot more time then.* But my favorite thing to make, were these tiny little hair clips.* With a no-slip grip, of course………so that the little clips would stay in her baby fine hair.
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So now that I have another little girl, I pulled out the old stash of little hair clippies with the*
no-slip grip on it…….and have been clipping them right to her super fine hair too.* You know, so there’s no mistaking that she’s a girl either.*
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Though, this time around…….I could care less if someone thought she was a boy.* Eh, worrying about that takes too much energy.* Ha.)
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Some bows are more complicated and are a serious masterpiece (though I don’t care for the bigger ones anymore)…….
………….but my favorite are these tiny little classic bows.*
Simple.* Girly.* And just so sweet.*
(These bows were all made years ago.* I’m glad I was a crazy bow maker back then…….I use them all the time again.)
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And yeah, so many people make them now (no more secrets)……..but maybe there are a few of you out there who never learned.*
And you don’t even have to know how to tie a bow to make this variety.*
Easy.
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And you better believe they are used in my older girl’s hair.* Especially on ballet days (
which was this morning…….and she’s still in her pink leotard).*
She can’t have any hair in her face…….and these clippies stay in tight, while keeping the fly-aways under control.
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What’s cuter than a little bow on a baby’s head?
(And yes, those are the leggings from
this tutorial.)
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And yeah,
she doesn’t have much hair yet (we’re working on that)……but just enough to sweep it away from her forehead.* Yay.
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Lovely, right?
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Would you like to make your own simple little hair bows……with a no-slip grip to keep them in place??
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First of all, everyone has their own technique.* And there are probably a variety of no-slip grip solutions out there.* This is just what I did and what I used.* All worked really well for me.*
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When I was first trying to make a bow that would stay in baby fine hair, I remember seeing bows online that had a no-slip grippy on it.* Some of it looked like velvet, other stuff looked sticky.* Some people used velcro and others used magnet material.* We didn’t have a lot of money and so I was trying to figure out a cheap solution.* I remember walking around Wal-Mart one day, trying to decide what I could use to re-create that no slip grip, and I walked by rows of this shelf liner stuff and had an “ah-ha” moment.* This liner material keeps things from slipping in cupboards and on shelves…….why not baby hair.* So I started using it on my hair clips, and it worked like a charm.
image source
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And just when you think you have the best idea ever……..you realize other people have it too.* Ha!* Because I have seen other people use this stuff to make their own bows since I thought it up for myself that one day.* How funny!* I swear, we should all participate in a huge think-tank and share all sorts of tricks and secrets.* It would save us all a lot of grief.
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Anyway, to make these hair bows (without actually tying a bow), I used 3/8 inch ribbon.* (Grosgrain works best in my opinion.)* I cut 3 pieces that are 4 inches long.* I also use a double prong hair clip (I always bought mine at Sally Beauty Supply….and they’re about 1 3/4 inches long).* Then I cut a piece of the shelf liner that is the same size as the prong section……so about 1 and a* 1/4 inch by 1/3 of an inch.* And a piece of felt that is about the same size.
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To begin, grab your roll of ribbon and heat seal the end (I use a lighter).
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Then hot glue about a 1/2 inch of the end of the ribbon to the very bottom of the clip with the right side of the ribbon facing out (if you have a right and wrong side).
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Then add a strip of hot glue to the next section of ribbon…
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…..and then fold it around the contours of the pinch part of the clip.* (Don’t worry, the clip will still pinch and the glue won’t affect the spring at all.)
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Then measure how much more ribbon you’ll need by stretching it to the tip of the clip, then fold it back up the length of the prongs.* Cut the ribbon off.
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Heat seal this end of the ribbon now too.
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Now add a long strip of hot glue down the back side of the rest of the ribbon.* Then lay it flat across the top of the top prong, then fold it under towards the bottom of that top prong…..to completely conceal that top prong.* Press the ribbon together to seal the glue together, and keep the ribbon in place.
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Now, grab your 3 pieces of 4 inch long ribbon.* Tie a single knot in the center of one of the pieces of ribbon.** Try to make it a neat little knot and keep the two ends flat and laying in the same direction.* Heat seal the ends of the 2 un-tied pieces.
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Then grab one of the plain pieces and bend it into a circle.* Overlap the ends by about a 1/3 of an inch and then hot glue them together (image on left).* Then pinch the circle right in the center, creating half of your bow shape, and add a little dot of hot glue to the inside center to keep it pinched together (image on right).
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Do the same thing with the other piece of ribbon.* Then cross the two pieces together……not into an actual “X”, more like a squashed one.* Add a dot of glue between the two, to keep them together.
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Then place the piece of ribbon with the knot in the middle, right in the center of the squashed “X” (image on the left).* Place a dot of hot glue right under the knot, so it doesn’t move around.* Turn the bow over and cut off the long ends just a bit and glue them down on the back side (image on the right).
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Now, glue the piece of shelf liner to the piece of felt.* Press the two layers together.*
CAUTION: this can get hot.* Test it with your fingers and wait until the glue has cooled from hot to warm and then squish the 2 layers together.* Glue will most likely ooze out.* Just peel it off your fingers and continue on!!
Trim off the excess along* each edge, making a nice clean line around all sides.
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Then hot glue the felt side to the top prong.
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Then glue the bow to the very top of the clip…..right to the ribbon.
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Why I do the bows this way:
Simple Bow Hair Clips (with no-slip grip)
Threaded Mode
