How to Make a DIY Ribbon Bow (2 easy ways)
Wondering how to tie a bow using a spool of ribbon? We’ll show you 2 easy ways to make a DIY ribbon bow from wired ribbon or satin ribbon, with pictures and video! Once you’ve tied the perfect bow, you can add to a wreath, decorate a present, or use at a party.
Build your own wreath to add your bow, such as our popular Dollar Tree Easy Flower Wreath or DIYer favorite Rustic Scrap Wood Wreath — and see all of our DIY wreath ideas here.
2 Easy Ways to Make a DIY Ribbon Bow
A lovely bow is such a charming way to decorate gifts, front door wreaths, or even Christmas trees. A voluminous amount of patterned ribbon just says “I’m ready for the holiday season!” or even “here comes the bride” at a wedding. But if your bunny ears style bows just aren’t cutting it, here’s how to tie a beautiful bow, two ways, for the perfect finishing touch.
These 2 easy bow-tying methods show you how to tie a beautiful simple bow with any type of ribbon, using thinner ribbon or wider ribbon, and in any size you need.
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Why Make a Bow Instead of Buying a Pre-Tied Bow?
If you’re in a real hurry, you can order pre-made ribbon bows on Amazon or find a great selection at Michaels or other craft stores.
But, if you learn to make your own bows, you can save money while making a custom bow to fit exactly the style you want, using ribbon from a spool (or even felt or fabric!)
Learning to tie your own ribbon bows or make them from spooled ribbon is the “teach a man to fish” of the crafting world — learn to make your own bows, and you’ll have bows for a lifetime of wreaths and other crafting projects!
Read on for step by step instructions on how you can make beautiful bows out of a few simple materials in just a few minutes, both by tying a fancy bow from ribbon and by making a fancy bow using wired ribbon pieces (or felt or fabric). Before you know it, you’ll be using this handy skill to decorate Christmas gifts and everything else you can get your hands on.
Quick Tie Bow: How to Tie a Fancy Bow from One Piece of Ribbon in One Minute
This fancy tied bow tutorial comes from Ananda at A Piece of Rainbow, courtesy of this easy fresh evergreen swag tutorial (which uses 2 of these bows stacked).
You can use this technique to tie a bow from many different ribbon types (satin, grosgrain, burlap, etc), wired or unwired, and any thickness of ribbon. You’ll need just one length of ribbon, which means you can tie and retie to practice and make the perfect bow!
Materials
- Ribbon, approx 5 times the desired width of the finished bow
- Sharp pair of scissors
Video Tutorial
How to Tie an Easy Fancy Bow, Step by Step
This quick tie bow is a double layered bow with 4 loops and 2 tails. For a bow with more layers, just use more ribbon loops.
- Cut the ribbon approximately 5x the width of the finished bow.
- Lay out the ribbon on a flat surface and fold in a double zig zag, so there is 1 cut end and 2 folded ends both the left and right sides. Leave the right end and left end ribbon tails roughly the same width as the folded ends (unless you want a longer ribbon tail).
- Carefully stack all 5 layers of ribbon and gather the ribbon in the center with one hand, all 5 layers, with one cut end at the top of the stack and the other at the bottom.
- Wrap the top ribbon tail around the center of the stacked ribbon loops in one direction, and the bottom ribbon tail from the other direction. Cross (but do not tie) the ribbons and wrap them the rest of the way around so they form a loop around the center of the stacked ribbon loops.
- Tie both ribbon tails together in a basic knot.
- Tug to adjust the knot and bow loops to the sizes you’d like, and to move both bow tails to the same side of the bow.
- Trim any excess ribbon, and cut the bow tails the the shape you like, such as a 45-degree V like we did here.
- (optional) Finish the ends of the ribbon with FrayCheck or by heat sealing with a lighter (for satin ribbon).
To attach this bow to a wreath, garland, gift, etc, use a twist tie or zip tie through the tied center section.
Alternative Rustic Bow Style: Instead of using the ribbon tails to tie the center of the bow, use a short piece of jute twine in the center. Perfect for a burlap and lace ribbon bow like this cute bow from our Farmhouse Fall Mum Wreath!
Bonus: How to Tie a Raffia Bow
Learn how to make a fun textured raffia wreath and how to tie a bow from raffia, too.
How to Make a Layered Bow from Wired Ribbon
The secret to the fancy premade bows you see in the store is that they are NOT actually tied from one piece of ribbon! Here’s how to make a store-bought quality layered bow for less, using your own ribbon spool.
We used green burlap ribbon bows on our easy pumpkin yarn wreath as well as our Dollar Tree candy cane elf wreath.
Materials
- Wired Ribbon, approximately 6 times with width of your desired finished bow
- Sharp pair of scissors
- Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks
- (optional) wired twist tie, pipe cleaner, floral wire, or small zip tie
You can also use this method to make a bow from felt or fabric yardage. For a felt bow, cut the felt into strips of your desired width. For fabric, use FrayCheck or cut with pinking shears to prevent fraying. You can create a fuller fabric bow by cutting the fabric to a little over double the desired width. Fold the fabric right sides together and sew the long edges together to form a tube. Turn the tube right side out and press before making the bow.
How to Make an Easy Layered Ribbon Bow
Step 1: Cut one length of ribbon 2x the width of your desired bow, and one length of ribbon a little bit shorter.
Step 2: Fold each length of ribbon into a loop, with the cut end centered in the middle of the back. (Do not crease the folded ends of the wired ribbon.)
Step 3: Lay the smaller second loop on top of the larger first loop. I like to use my scissors to hold the loops in place. Alternately, you can use a twist tie or a zip tie to cinch and gather the center of the ribbon loops and hold it in place.
Step 4: Cut a shorter piece of ribbon, about 2 times the width of the ribbon.
Step 5: Wrap the shorter piece of ribbon around the center of the 2 loops of ribbon with the cut ends at the back (where the cut ends of the ribbon loops are). If you’d like a thinner bow center, fold the ribbon to the desired width.
Step 6: Secure the center loop in place using hot glue. If you didn’t use a twist tie or zip tie in Step 3, ensure that the glue will hold the gathered center of the bow securely.
Step 7: Cut another piece of ribbon for the tails at the length you like. (Ours is about 2x the width of the bow.) Trim the ends as shown, and use FrayCheck or a lighter to seal the ends of the ribbon as needed.
Step 8: Tuck the ribbon tail piece into the center loop or twist tie, or cut in two pieces and glue the ribbon tails to the back of the bow.
For a fancy bow with multiple layers, cut additional lengths of ribbon at slightly varied sizes, then fold and stack them largest to smallest before cinching in the middle and adding the center tie and tails.
Common Questions about Tying Bows
How do you make a bow look cute?
After you’ve tied the bow like above, adjusting the loops and tails is so important! Tug and tweak the bow sections until they look just right.
Are there other bow tying tools? Is a bow maker worth it?
If you’re making a bunch of ribbon bows in bulk, bow tying tools like this can save you a lot of time and ensure that the bows are uniform sizes. The Bowdabra bow maker has great reviews, and this Pro Bow bow maker helps you easily make beautiful round bows for weddings or parties!
Where can I use a handmade ribbon bow?
Tie a bow on a gift, add it to a Christmas tree, use it at a wedding to decorate, or, our favorite — add it to a wreath! See all of our DIY wreath ideas here.
Making a wreath is a great weekend craft idea! Make one of these DIY wreath ideas for your front door — many use Dollar Tree materials so they are so affordable!
2 Easy DIY Ribbon Bows: Quick Tie Bow and Layered Bow
Ingredients
- Ribbon approximately 5-6 times with width of your desired finished bow
- Sharp pair of scissors
- Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks for layered bow
- (optional) wired twist tie, pipe cleaner, floral wire, or small zip tie
Instructions
Method 1: How to Tie an Easy Fancy Bow, Step by Step
- Cut the ribbon approximately 5x the width of the finished bow.
- Lay out the ribbon on a flat surface and fold in a double zig zag, so there is 1 cut end and 2 folded ends both the left and right sides. Leave the right end and left end ribbon tails roughly the same width as the folded ends (unless you want a longer ribbon tail).
- Carefully stack all 5 layers of ribbon and gather the ribbon in the center with one hand, all 5 layers, with one cut end at the top of the stack and the other at the bottom.
- Wrap the top ribbon tail around the center of the stacked ribbon loops in one direction, and the bottom ribbon tail from the other direction. Cross (but do not tie) the ribbons and wrap them the rest of the way around so they form a loop around the center of the stacked ribbon loops.
- Tie both ribbon tails together in a basic knot.
- Tug to adjust the knot and bow loops to the sizes you’d like, and to move both bow tails to the same side of the bow.
- Trim any excess ribbon, and cut the bow tails the the shape you like, such as a 45-degree V like we did here.
- (optional) Finish the ends of the ribbon with FrayCheck or by heat sealing with a lighter (for satin ribbon).
- To attach this bow to a wreath, garland, gift, etc, use a twist tie or zip tie through the tied center section.
- Alternative Rustic Bow Style: Instead of using the ribbon tails to tie the center of the bow, use a short piece of jute twine or a matching wire twist tie in the center.
Method 2: How to Make a Layered Bow from Wired Ribbon
- Cut one length of ribbon 2x the width of your desired bow, and one length of ribbon a little bit shorter.
- Fold each length of ribbon into a loop, with the cut end centered in the middle of the back. (Do not crease the folded ends of the wired ribbon.)
- Lay the smaller second loop on top of the larger first loop. I like to use my scissors to hold the loops in place. Alternately, you can use a twist tie or a zip tie to cinch and gather the center of the ribbon loops and hold it in place.
- Cut a shorter piece of ribbon, about 2 times the width of the ribbon.
- Wrap the shorter piece of ribbon around the center of the 2 loops of ribbon with the cut ends at the back (where the cut ends of the ribbon loops are). If you’d like a thinner bow center, fold the ribbon to the desired width.
- Secure the center loop in place using hot glue. If you didn’t use a twist tie or zip tie in Step 3, ensure that the glue will hold the gathered center of the bow securely.
- Cut another piece of ribbon for the tails at the length you like. (Ours is about 2x the width of the bow.) Trim the ends as shown, and use FrayCheck or a lighter to seal the ends of the ribbon as needed.
- Tuck the ribbon tail piece into the center loop or twist tie, or cut in two pieces and glue the ribbon tails to the back of the bow.
- For a fancy bow with multiple layers, cut additional lengths of ribbon at slightly varied sizes, then fold and stack them largest to smallest before cinching in the middle and adding the center tie and tails.
Video
Notes
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Lorene has been behind the scenes here at Remodelaholic for more than a decade! She believes that planning projects and actually completing them are two different hobbies, but that doesn't stop her from planning at least a dozen projects at any given time. She spends her free time creating memories with her husband and 5 kids, traveling as far as she can afford, and partaking of books in any form available.
