Friday, January 25, 2013

How to Make Felt Hair Bows that Stick!

Please visit the updated post and find lots more inspiration here.
Finally, a hair bow that will stay in your little girl's hair when she doesn't have any!

I don't think I finally got hair until I was about 2 or 3 years old.  I'm sure my mom fielded a bunch of "How old is your son?" questions, and I'm anticipating the same for my little girl.  Since she's not here yet (anticipated c-section birthday on Feb. 25) you'll have to settle for me as a model. 
I did a bunch of research on which clips were the best and the secret trick to making the hair bows stay in.  You'll never guess what it is!  Drawer liner!

Let's get started!
You'll need:

Have I told you before that I'm not very girly?  I'm not in to ballerinas and tutus and tulle.  No thanks.  When I was little I had a Mr. T lunch box.  Yes, the huge guy from the A-Team who didn't like to fly on airplanes and wore about 10 lbs of gold chains around his neck, yeah him.  I was obsessed.  Anyway, I inherited these hair clips and cut off the tulle so I could re-use the perfectly good clip underneath.  You could also buy the metal clips at Sally's Beauty Supply or I've even seen them at Michael's.
Once I freed my hair clip from all that ick I was ready to get started.  

Cut a strip of felt that's as wide as your clip and long enough to wrap around starting where my thumb is and continuing around the whole top portion of the clip.  It's key not to have any felt on the bottom of your clip because you want that part of the clip to be in contact with the hair directly.  Glue that down.  Be sure to open your clip so that you don't glue the clip closed.
Round off any excess felt.
Next, cut a piece of drawer liner that's as wide as your clip and as long as the inside top portion of your clip (remember we want to keep the entire bottom part of the clip clear of anything.)
 Trim off the excess shelf liner.
 It will look like this when you're done.
 Finally, hot glue your bow to the top of the clip and you're done!
Repeat until you're sick of making them or until your thumbs can't take any more hot glue gun burns, which ever comes first.
If you'd rather make these using grosgrain ribbon, Make It and Love It has an awesome tutorial and some sticky sweet baby pictures here.
Now you moms of girls will have to tell me how you like these.  Bonus points if you can remember any other characters from the A-Team!  I love it when a plan comes together!

10 comments:

Olivia said...

I used the Make it and Love it tutorial to make some for my niece Eliana. They work perfectly!

Christina said...

Well aren't those the cutest? And I'm LOVIN' the drawer liner tip. I will be adding that to all of my clips asap!

eeek- Feb. 25th isn't that far away! Hope everything is going okay and rest up!

Jen said...

Adorable! I'm going to make these as baby shower gifts! Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Murdock, Face.... Didn't have a lunchbox, but I loved that show!

Love this tip for getting bows to stay put. My lil one doesn't have much hair. I put velcro on all her bows and the other side of the velcro on a variety of dollar store headbands. It's worked well, but it's nice to have a no headband option!

Sarah said...

YES!!! Michele, that's my favorite comment of all time! :)

Pretty Fun said...

Total genius using the drawer liner! I have made a million little barrettes for my daughter but that tip will make a huge difference.
P.S.
Murdock was one of my first crushes when I was little. Weird, I know.

MolleBolle said...

Face, Hannibal and Murdock! I'm definately trying these for my little girl. She has the thinnest hair ever! (and sh's almost three...)

Unknown said...

Nonslip shelf liner glued to the inside of a baby barrette does work! Great tip. Wanted to let you know I mentioned you today in a hint on my site:
http://hintmama.com/2014/01/23/todays-hint-barrettes-that-stay-in-baby-toddler-hair/

Judi said...

Although this is a very cute bow, you can't ever get to the template and instructions for making the bow as the link takes you to an add which lets you go no further. Very disappointing.

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