Bowdabra Bow Maker Tutorial–Fabric Raggie Bows

Rag bows are a wonderful way to reuse old clothes or small scraps of fabric leftover from other craft projects. However, rag bows can be rather tediousness to make because they usually require sewing each rag piece to the previous one. The Design Team at Bowdabra, however, came up with a really fun and easy way to make a rag bow  with NO Sewing!

To make the rag bow you will need:

• Scrap Fabric of Coordinating Colors
• Bowdabra
• Bowdabra Bow Wire
• Scissors
• Lined Alligator Hair Clip

Instructions:

1. To begin cut strips of fabric. I cut fabric strips 1″ wide and 5″ long. I am a quilter so I have a cutting mat and a rotary cutter. However, you can easily cut the strips by hand it is just more time consuming. To prevent fraying you can also use sheering scissors to cut the fabric. I love the vintage look of the fabric fraying so I left it with just the straight cut. You also can add a no-fray blocker to the fabric once it is cut if you would prefer. Again, though, I think the fraying keeps with the classic, vintage, rag-bow style.

2. Next, place 24″ of Bowdabra Bow Wire folded in half into the center of the Bowdabra. The Bowdabra Bow Wire is the key to this bow. You need the wire to pull the fabric really tightly and I highly recommend using the wire to hold your bow together.

3. Now, start to place your fabric strips into the center of the Bowdabra. Try to keep each strip on center.

4. Continue adding fabric strips until you are over halfway up the Bowdabra towers.

5. Next, scrunch the fabric strips down with the Bowdabra Wand.

6. Now, taking your Bowdabra Bow Wire thread the wire tails through the loop that was formed when you folded the wire in half, at the beginning.

7. Pull the wire tightly. The wire needs to be pulled extra tight to push all the fabric down and keep it all securely in place.

8. Take the rag bow out of the Bowdabra. Bring the wire around to back of the bow, fluff the bow a bit and separate fabric from each other. Then tightly tie the Bowdabra Bow Wire to the back of the bow.

9. If you would like your Rag Bow, to be used as hair bow, attach a lined alligator clip to the back of the bow using the Bowdabra Bow Wire. Or use the wire to attach to a headband, other types of hair bow hardware, or even onto a pin.

10. Walla, your Rag Bow is finished! Rag Bows look wonderful in hair, on top of presents, attached to flip-flops, or even used as brooch.

Helpful Hints: You can starch the bow if you would like to add stiffness. If you do starch it I recommend starching the bow and then hanging it upside so that the fabric falls forward and to the center.