Bow tutorial: How To Make Large, No-Sew Fabric Bows

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Bows are everywhere this Christmas; large decorative bows look particularly good when hung on a door, on a fireplace surround, or over a mirror. In this post, I’m going to share how I made these large stripy fabric bows without sewing with a simple step-by-step bow-making tutorial.

For this bow craft, you’ll need fabric-cutting scissors, some string or twine, a hot glue gun and three pieces of fabric roughly the following sizes:

• 45 x 50 cm

• 27 x 10 cm

• 110 x 23 cm

The fabric needs to be a thick piece of upholstery fabric (such as velvet or a fabric with a waxy back) or any fabric that can hold its shape without flopping. If you choose to use a thinner fabric, try adding wadding inside the bow and tails, or a fabric thickener spray to make the fabric more starch-like.

Part one: The Top

To make the top part of the bow, take your 45 x 50 cm piece of fabric (the longer length is the width) and hem the sides with hot glue. Fold down the top and bottom to meet and secure with glue to make a parcel. Pinch your parcel down the middle to form a pasta shape and secure it with string (make sure that your string is long, as this is what you will use to hang your bow with when completed).

Part Two: The Middle

Take the small strip of fabric and again hem the sides with hot glue. Wrap around the centre of the bow to hide the string and create the middle. Overlap around the back and secure with glue.

Part Three: The Tails

Take your long piece of fabric to create the tails. Hem each side, then fold the fabric over to meet and secure with glue. You now have one long strip of fabric which you can bend over in the middle. Cut the ends at an angle and tuck in the exposed edges and secure them with glue. You can now glue the tail to the back of the top part of the bow and your bow will be complete!