How to Make Easy Christmas Bows for Your Holiday Decor!
Simple instructions for making DIY fluffy bows, from small to large, for Christmas decorations.
I searched for “easy-to-make Christmas bows” a few years ago and tried at least three versions (this one seemed incredibly easy).
Each time I ended up with a messy bar that looked nothing like what they showed.
I finally found a simple bow that looks really cute, so I wanted to share the easy steps!
You only need two things for this quick tutorial – wire tape (I think I had 30 yards) and a wire of some sort. You can use wire, flower wire, pipe cleaners…anything like that will work.
1. Cut your tape into long lengths
First, cut a long piece of ribbon about five feet long (I ended up making it a little longer, about 65 inches) and a shorter piece about two feet long.
You’ll see the size of the bows with these measurements in this post – adjust the lengths to your liking!
Then place the long piece on a surface like this:
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Using wire tape will make this much easier – it keeps its shape as you go.
I had to study the picture while I was doing this because I kept doing it backwards. Simply lay it flat and pull up one side, then the other.
You may want to expand this part at the top as you go, which will be the back of the bow.
2. Make your own ribbon loops
Next, take the smaller part of the ribbon and overlap the ends slightly as follows:
Grab that piece and flip it over so that the solid side is in front. Place it over the longer piece:
I didn’t show it very well here, but you want this piece to be a little bit wider than what’s already on the floor.
Then you just combine it all into one piece – holding the two from the bottom in the middle all the way to the top piece.
Don’t worry about making it perfect:
Take some floral wire and wrap it around to secure the parts together.
I also used small zip ties or even wire tape to secure this part.
You can adjust the bow while doing this if necessary:
Your beautiful bow is almost complete!
If you want a big, fluffy bow, go ahead and use extra layers! You can rotate and adjust it when adding it to the front of the bow.
3. It’s time to hide the wire.
I had ribbon left over from decorating the tree so I cut small pieces of ribbon and wrapped them around the wire in the middle.
Then I used a piece of floral wire that was already there to secure that part in the back as well:
Hot glue will work too! But this method keeps the number of necessary “tools” low. 😉 If you have a lot of tape, you can just tie off this part.
Play with it – I used a patterned tone here, but a ribbon with sparkles would look nice, or even a contrasting color.
When finished, you can decorate the ends of the ribbon by folding them in half and then cutting them using scissors as follows:
This gives the bow tails an inverted “V” shape at the ends. Fluff as needed then hang up!
Use the remaining wire in the back to hang your bows!
These large bows went into our staircase wreath:
This staircase wreath was so simple and classic with the lights and bows!:
The smaller layer added on top makes it more “puffy” and dimensional, but there’s no need for that.
I made cute little bows for my office tree using this method, but skipping the extra bow at the top:
I wrapped the center with a smaller burgundy wire ribbon.
Wire ribbon is the key to making these bows full and beautiful!
It fits in the tree pretty easily, but I ran the end of the ornament hook through the ribbon in the back so I could hang it:
These DIY bows can be used in so many places!
Make a giant bow tree topper for your Christmas tree. Add them to your holiday wreaths. Use smaller sections to create an array of Christmas tree bows in different sizes to fill empty spaces. Make smaller versions of these simple bows for your own Christmas gifts. Used for exterior decoration on mailbox or fence posts. (I’ll use outside tape for this.)
I think it’s a nice traditional touch. So easy and simple – just make sure you have plenty of tape!
Did you make these big bows or do you have a different way of doing it?
