How to make hair bows for dogs

So, basically I was looking around on the internet trying to find out how to make more intricate bows, and found nothing but a whole lot of very confusing instructional posts with no pictures or videos. Here you'll learn how to make cute little bows for your pets, in 6 simple steps! I'm still learning myself, but I'm hoping this could help others!

Table of Contents Show

Hair Bows For Dogs
Supplies Needed
The Pattern
Mix It Up Hair Bows for Dogs
Embellishments

Now... Here's what you'll need to start...

Step 1

You'll need a pencil, small elastics, ribbon, and scissors.

Step 2

Cut a piece of ribbon about the size of the pencil for small sized bows.

Tips

If you want the bows to be smaller or bigger, just cut the ribbon to your desired length.

Step 3

Next you'll want to cut your piece of ribbon into 2 pieces of the same length.

Step 4

Now put one of your elastics around the pencil about 2 inches from the tip. Then fold your bow like the awareness ribbons like shown in the picture. Keeping the ribbon in the same fold, hold it against the pencil right above the elastic.

Step 5

Take the elastic, twist it once, and then fold it over the tip of the pencil. Once you have it as the picture, fold the ribbon in half, and now pull the bottom of the elastic over the tip of the pencil once again.

Step 6

Now to finish off the bow you'll want to pull the elastic tight by pulling the pencil out. Once you have that done, take it off the pencil...

And your bow should look like this:

Tips

You can use 2 pieces of ribbon on the same bow
You can cut the ends of the finished bow to your desired look
There's another simple bow you can make using the same steps just folding differently. The fold will look like this...

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You can’t believe how easily you can make these little hair bows for dogs! What inspired this post? Lady, our Maltese, looks adorable with a little bow in her hair. We have had a variety of different types of bows secured to clips, bands, and barrettes. Some, I have liked and some, not so much.

Lady in her DIY Dog Coat

Although the little bows with tulle look cute, they disagree with Lady’s Maltese hair. Her hair is different from many other dogs and tends to tangle around and into the tulle. That is frustrating. You can imagine trying to remove these.

After noticing so many cute felt bows for little girls on Pinterest, it dawned on me that these would be perfect for Lady, too. Then, running this by Sophie, my granddaughter, we began to come up with ideas for different bows for each month of the year.

Bows can be made with the tails horizontal or folded and angled downward.

There are numerous patterns that you can find for felt bows on Pinterest. The pattern I came up with is a little bit more narrow in the center of the piece that creates the bow ends. By making it more narrow, it folds more easily and attaches to hang downward instead of horizontally, which I like.

Hair Bows For Dogs

Supplies for Hair Bow

Supplies Needed

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For this project, you will need a variety of felt pieces, 1-1/2″ French barrette style hair clips,(barrettes, or bands, of your choice,) hot glue or low temp glue gun, scissors, and this pattern.

The Pattern

Felt Bow Pattern For Your Dog

First, print the downloadable pattern, cut out the pattern pieces, pin them to felt fabric, and cut from the felt piece. If you are making multiples, it is much easier to place the felt shapes onto another piece of felt, use the felt shapes as patterns, and cut around each of those.

You’ll need the felt pieces, barrettes, and whatever trim or button you want to add to the bow.

Directions

Plug in the glue gun to heat. While it is heating, choose the cut felt shapes, a barrette, and any buttons, or embellishments for the bow.

Create the first loop of the bow.

Dab glue onto the center and fold one end to the center creating a loop.

Create and secure the second loop.

Place another dab of glue on top of the tail of the first loop and place the other end on top of the glue creating the look of a bow.

Fold the tail.

Next, fold the felt tail piece in half at an angle. You don’t have to fold the back at an angle. The piece can also be attached flat. I like the angled look for Lady’s bows.

Glue the tail to the back of the bow.

Place a dab of glue on the back of the double-looped piece and lay the folded tail over it. I only glued the side of the tail laying on the double loop. The other side was left loose, (the left end in the picture,) so it could be adjusted if necessary.

Securing the barrette to the bow.

Flip the bow over to the front side. Attach the end of the rectangular band felt piece in the middle of the bow on the lower third with a dab of glue.

Open the barrette and fish the other end of the tail into the barrette opening as shown in the picture.

Glue the barrette to the bow.

Slide the barrette up the rectangular piece of felt and dab some glue in the middle on the back of the bow. Place the top side of the barrette in the glue. After making a few of these, I found it easier to apply the glue across the barrette and then place it on the felt.

Wrap the band around the front of the bow and glue the end on the back side.

Wrap the band around the front of the bow and attach the end with glue on the backside. See the picture.

Purple Felt Hair Bow With Coordinating Button

These bows end up 2-1/2″ x 2-1/4″. If you desire larger or smaller bows, increase or decrease the size of the bow and print a pattern. Lady is a small dog and weighs 14 pounds and this size of bow looks adorable on her.

Lady's hair tends to fall down in her eyes.  I started pulling it up with a band and adding another band about 1/2-inch away from the first.  Next, I slide the loose clip through the 1/2" of hair between the two bands and then snap it shut.  The two bands hold the barrette securely between and help keep her hair up out of her eyes.

Mix It Up Hair Bows for Dogs

Burgundy and Pink Hair Bow With Diamond Trim

After cutting out the three pieces for these bows in several different colors, my granddaughter, Sophie, came over and began mixing and matching colors. She came up with some adorable color combinations by stacking two bows.

This is one of those!

Now you are ready for the fun part, the embellishments!

Embellishments

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Dress It Up Buttons

Dress It Up Buttonsare so cute. This flower pack has several flower buttons I thought would be perfect for some of the bows. Most of these are flat backs, however, some have shanks on the back. I intend to glue these to the bow. Since they protrude, the shanks will get in the way. These are easily removed with a cutter.

Any decorative buttons are perfect for this project. You can personalize the bow with any buttons you have. I noticed the sparkly green flower button in this bag and thought it would be perfect for a St. Patrick’s Day bow.

Embellishments for bows – adhesive diamond wrap.

At the local dollar store, I found this adhesive diamond wrap in clear rhinestones and pink rhinestones. These look adorable! Worried that the adhesive on the back might not be sufficient, I added a little glue to the back of the two on each end.

Add decorative ribbon, lace, felt flowers, decorative trim, buttons, or charms to personalize these little bows. Although I made these for our Lady, they could also be made for your little girl. They are so stinking cute!