How to Make Pretty Bows

I have always been a girly girl. In fact, my mom likes to say before I could even speak full sentences I would point to my pigtails to have her add a bow! My first business was J&K bow‘s named after my elementary school bestie, Kelly, and of course me, Julie. (Original- I know!) We started the business when we were in third grade complete with a tax ID number and everything! Fast-forward to Julie with newborn babies and I knew I wanted to start up the bow business again. This time with another original name, julie’s bows. I had a website, back in the day when websites weren’t as common, and I sold to four little boutiques in Dallas as well. My college aged girls still run into people who say, “You mom is Julie who made my hair bows!” Because of my vast knowledge of ribbon and bow making, I feel like I’m kind of an expert! Ha! With that in mind, here are some different ways I make- and use- bows around our home at Christmastime.

Bows For Gifts 

This, of course, is pretty obvious! I feel like a gift is not complete without a pretty bow. My favorite ribbons to use are 1.5 inch satin ribbon and 1.5 inch plaid ribbon.  Sometimes I do a simple single bow and sometimes I do a double bow. Here’s a step-by-step guide on each kind. By the way, I get lots of questions on where I find my wrapping paper. I’m pretty particular and love having coordinating paper every year. Here’s my wrapping paper link in case you want to see my favorites!

Single Bow

I like to think of a single bow like tying shoelaces. I use 1.5 inch ribbon for almost all of my packages. If they are small, I’ll use 7/8 inch or 1 inch. For a typical size shirt box, I use one piece of ribbon that is 90 inches long.

The first thing you want to do is find the middle of the ribbon and set it on the top middle of your box. See photo.

Then you wrap the ribbon around the back and criss cross it.

Next you’ll bring the ribbon back to the front and tie and a bow in the middle just like you are tying show laces. Make a loop with your right hand, wrap the piece of ribbon around and pull a loop through on the other side. Make sure your lops are the same size and you are done! I like to cut the ends of my ribbon slanted to make it look polished.

Double Bow

For a double bow on a standard shirt size box, you’ll need two pieces of ribbon. The first is 90 inches long, and the second is 34 inches long. Follow the instructions above on making a single bow. After you have finished that bow, tie the other piece of ribbon on top of the first to create a second bow with tails. This is just a little bit more of a fuller bow and a little fancier in my opinion!

Mirrors and Art

Adding a little swag of greenery and a bow makes for an easy and simple way to dress up a mirror or art for the holidays. I just tied together a few pieces of greenery with wire and then added a simple single bow in the center.

Bows Tied to Jars

I love a little pop of color on a blue and white jar. I’ve used tartan ribbon, as well as plain satin ribbon, and both look beautiful! I think the colorful Christmas tree looks perfect with the blue and white and Santa.

Bows on Baked Goods

If you add a simple bow to a loaf of pumpkin bread, it just makes it so much prettier!

Wreaths, Trees and Greenery

Here is a step-by-step on how to make a full bow for a wreath or tree topper. This is a little bit harder to figure out by looking at photos, so I’ll post a video on my Instagram soon!

I used 2 1/4 inch wide ribbon for outdoor trees and wreath. I think you need a bigger ribbon to make a statement from the street.

The first thing you are going to do is make a loop facing right like the photo below. In the end you want all of you loops to be about the same size.

Next you”ll make another loop on the left side. Take the long piece of ribbon hanging down on the right and make a loop under the loop on the right.

Pull the ribbon over to the lefthand side and make another loop the same size. You should now have 4 loops, 2 on each side. See photo.

Pinch the middle and wrap with wire.

Then make a simple bow with one loop on the right and one on the left. Pinch the middle and wrap with wire. Lay that bow on top of the bigger bow and wrap another piece of wire to hold them together.

Leave a piece of wire to wrap the bow around your wreath of tree.

Bows on Christmas Ornaments

My friend Rebecca, and I made some super fun marbled Christmas ornaments. Here’s the marbled ornament blog post where I wrote all about it. I tied a simple, navy satin bow where you would normally put a wire hanger and used them as a centerpiece for a Christmas table.

For these pretty blue and white ornaments, I used a tartan plaid ribbon to tie a bow and attach them to a little tree.  They turned out darling!

Bows on Napkins

Adding a simple ribbon or bow to a napkin makes it extra special! This is something you can do all year, not just during the holidays. Sometimes I will tie a bow and sometimes I’ll just tie a piece of ribbon around the napkin. Both look great! I have the cutest little 6 inch boxwood wreaths I like to tie a bow on as well. You could add a simple place card if you want.

So… there are a lot of ways to make simple bows and use them in your Christmas decor and all throughout the year! Please let me know if you have any questions, I’d love to help! Here’s a link to my Instagram stories where I’ve posted videos on bow making.

Grateful for you,

Julie

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