Beautiful Bows How-To

About 20 years ago, a friend in Germany, taught me to make beautiful bows from any ribbon. My favorites are those wired ones Costco sells, but really any ribbon will work. If using 2" ribbon, you need a piece about 80 inches long for eight nice loops plus two pieces about a foot long for extra tails. I just made 45 ribbons for a grandniece's reception and just let it roll out across the room so could cut it as they were made. My friend always used pipe cleaners, but never can seem to keep them on hand, so use that craft wire on a small paddle...not sure what gauge it is, but it works well...want one that's not going to break easily when you twist it. Here's a place with a video.http://embitca.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-make-a-Bow-out-of-Ribbon Hers are a bit different, but basically shows you how to do it. I always twist each time I bring the ribbon back to my fingers and the two extra pieces are twisted before getting wired in. It's essential to twist if you're using ribbon that's printed on one side, or shiny only on one side. I also "fuss" a bit with each loop--twist and turn it a bit as it's getting fluffed so the bow is really full. For 2 inch ribbon each loop is about five inches, and there are usually four loops on either side. When I made them for my son's wedding, we used three inch ribbons, so made longer loops and more so they would be almost a ball shape. Also, use longer wire than she suggests--probably 8 inches for smaller bows and 10 or 12 for bigger so you can easily wire them to something else. I fold the wire into a hair pin shape then slip it over the bow in my hand and twist it a few times. You can curl up the wire if they're going to just sit on a table or in a bowl, but you have the wire if needed.

Start of bow

First loop

Several loops made

Ready to wire

Wired--you can barely see the wire there on my index finger. Asked someone to put my wire paddle away and they did--right where I said to, but old brainies can't remember where that is so don't know the gauge!!