Blog Swap with Kelly from Living Craftily Ever After!

Today I am over at Living Craftily Ever After sharing my Ruffles Business Card Tutorial!  So Click on over and check it out! I am super excited! Wahoo!

I want to introduce you to Kelly! She is one of my favorite bloggers and she is so super talented! So please welcome Kelly from Living Craftily Ever After!

Hi there Johnny in A Dress readers!

My name is Kelly and I blog over at Living Craftily Ever After where I talk mainly about crafty things, but also throw in a little about my family here and there!
{here is a picture of me and my girls- Sam is 3 and Sadie is 8 months}

I love Natalie and her blog and I am so excited to be blog swapping with her today! Isn’t she just the sweetest person ever?  We have chatted a few times via email and I just think she is great! So of course- a blog swap had to happen!

Today I am going to show you how to make one of my favorite type of hair bows.

Korker bows are SO cute and I love how they are different from normal hair bows!

They are very boutique-y {yes I made that up} looking and surprisingly SIMPLE to make!

Today I am going to show you how to make your own! Are you excited? I am! Let’s get to it!

Supplies Needed:
3/8 inch grosgrain ribbon

1/4 in wood dowels (can find them at any craft store)

little clothes pins or alligator clips
Additional Supplies:
String/thin elastic
OR sewing needle and thread

Preheat your Oven to 275 degrees F {huh? I thought we were making a BOW.  Bare with me people- we are making a bow, but we also need the oven!}

You are going to take one end of your ribbon and attach it to the end of the dowel with you clothes pin or alligator clip

Then you simply wrap it around the dowel to the other end.

When you are wrapping- don’t pull too tight. You want the ribbon flat on the dowel {not loose or hanging off} but there is no need to pull too tight.  Cut and secure your ribbon on the other end with another clothes pin or alligator clip.

Continue the same process on each dowel. For a small korker bow I usually use 4-5 dowels.

Once each of your dowels is wrapped and secured you are going to place it in the oven. YEP- the OVEN.

I like to put mine on a cookie sheet and then into the oven. You can also place them on a sheet of foil directly on the rack. Either way. I have done both- makes no difference.

Bake the ribbon for approximately 25 minutes or so.

*remember every oven is different. I have found that anywhere from 23 minutes to 30 minutes is OK*

Take the cookie sheet with your ribbon out of the oven and let cool.

Once it has cooled take your ribbon off the dowel. Sometimes it slides right off, sometimes you have to work it a little bit to get it off

Now it is time to cut the korker ribbon. I know some people like to cut it by inches {meaning, line the ribbon next to a ruler and cut every 3 inches- or whatever length you want}. I have done it that way and it works, but I prefer to cut it by curl in the ribbon. For mine I cut at every 4 curls in the ribbon. {I use 4 because I don’t want mine to be HUGE since they are going on a baby. If you want a larger bow, just cut each piece of ribbon longer.}
See where the scissors are? The tip is after the 4th curl

Cut all your ribbon the same length- whether you use inches or curls- its up to you. Just make sure they are all the same length.

After all my ribbon is cut I go through and heat seal all the ends with a lighter. And yes, I burn myself quite a bit. You can also use Fray Check on the ends, but I prefer to heat seal them. I am a glutton for punishment, what can I say?!

Now here is where you have some options. I personally like to sew my korker bows. I think they are more sturdy this way. But I will show you 2 different ways in case sewing a bow just isn’t your thing   {gee- I am SO nice, huh?!}

Method 1- the NO Sew Method.

Lay a piece of string or very thin elastic on the table.

Place your cut ribbon on top.
Stack it up a couple rows high.

Once you have all your ribbon on there, take the ends of your string and carefully bring them up and around and then tie it off. Make it TIGHT because you don’t want any pieces to fall out. {I tried to get a picture of this- but it was impossible. And the hubby wasn’t home to help. But I know you all can figure it out with out the picture!}
And there you go! A Korker Bow! 

I bet you never guessed it was that easy to make,  huh?
Method 2: The SEW Method AKA my preferred method
Make sure you have an extra long needle to start with
I like to use embroidery thread on my needle because it is a little thicker than regular thread. And you want your thread to be as close to the same color as your ribbon as possible. I didn’t have brown thread, so I used black.
Now you are just going to start stacking your pieces of ribbon on  your needle making sure to keep all the ribbon ON the needle. We dont want to push it off the needle just yet.

{make sure you are putting your needle through the CENTER of the ribbon. You don’t want a lopsided bow do you?!}
Keep adding all your ribbon. Its a good idea to rotate each piece to make it nice and full.

Top View

Bottom View {notice my daughter snuck an easter egg into the picture? LOL}

Once all your ribbon is on, you are going to now slide it down until it hits the knot.  Then bring your needle back through to make a stitch. I like to do this a couple times to make sure it is nice and secure
*Side note- it can get pretty hard to stick the needle through that many layers of ribbon- so be careful not to stick yourself!!!
Tie it off and you are done!

And how CUTE is it on my little model? LOVE her and the bow!


Next week I am going to have a post up on how to attach your korker bow to an alligator clip so make sure to follow me at Living Craftily Ever After so you don’t miss that!

THANK YOU SO MUCH NATALIE for having me over on your AMAZING blog today!!!!

Kelly

Thanks Kelly!

Isn’t she fabulous?! I love Kelly! She is awesomely crafty too! So make sure you click on over and give her some JIAD love!