A few days ago, when I was buying wrapping paper for my Christmas gifts, I was also searching for those cute, kinds of pointy gift bows that you stick to the presents. I am that lazy and I had no idea they can be handcrafted.
When I saw how pricey a tiny gift bow was, I said I must try to make my own. I also needed quite a few, so I bought some nice and festive ribbon and went home to create my own Christmas gift bows, because… why not?!
All you will need to make your own gift bows:
- ribbon of your choice
- a pair of scissors or a cutting knife
- double sided sticky tape or all-purpose adhesive
As you can see, you don’t need a lot. Only a little bit of patience.
Related: DIY Christmas Tree Ornaments
First of all, I want to say that a wider ribbon I think would have worked better. You can totally make these bows out of paper as well. I chose to use ribbon because it has the same width and I didn’t had to cut it anymore. Lazy DIYer. Anyway, the metallic effect was also too nice not to buy it.
Start by cutting 9 strips of ribbon to these measurements:
- 3 of 13 cm;
- 3 of 10 cm;
- 3 of 7 cm;
- one small stripe of 1.5 cm.
Make sure that you stack them in order, because you will need them like that.
First step is to make a tiny ring out of the smallest stripe. Stick it using double sided tape and set aside – we will need it for the last step.
Take one of the large stripe and mark the middle of it by folding it. The mark will guide you where to stick the ends of the stripes. Now, take one end of the stripe and twist it, so that the back of the ribbon stays up and the end of it sticks to the middle mark. Peel off the double sided tape and stick it.
Now you have to twist the other side as well. I found it easier to switch the other end facing me and twist it on the right side as well. You have to twist it on the other side, to have a symmetrical bow. But by switching it to face you, you will be twisting it always to the right and the bow will always be symmetrical, just like in the pic below.
Continue this with the remaining 8 stripes of ribbon. At the end of this process, you should end up with something like this:
It’s all about the tape, baby!
Now you have to stick all the tiny bows into a big, beautiful gift bow. Use the double sided tape to stick them on layers, based on the 3 different dimensions. Start by sticking together the bigger bows, after that on top the medium ones and in the end the smallest ones. When you stick each bow, make sure that the pointy edges are in between two other edges.
After all the layers are glued/stacked together we’ll add the tiny ring that we made at the beginning, in the middle of the bow to complete it.
Last but not least, add a piece of double sided sticky tape on the back of the bow, so that you can stick it on the presents.
And you are done! You’ve just made your very own gift bow for far way less money than it is in shops! Isn’t it cute?
Don’t forget to let your loved one know that you handcrafted these cute gift bows. It will add so much meaningfulness to any gift!
Related: DIY Reindeer Christmas Jars
Hope you liked this tutorial and now you can make your own gift bows! Also, please share your recreations with me, I would love to see how they turned out!
32 comments
I can’t believe how easy these are! And SO cute!!
These are so cute! I would have never thought of just making them myself!
-Mackenzie
http://www.kenzywho.com
These are so cute! I can only imagine all the possibilities with different colors and types of ribbon!
So beautiful! I want to make them now!
Great tutorial!!! I agree that purchasing cute bows can be so costly!!! I will be saving this for future bow making!!!
Glad you like it!
This is so cute! I love wrapping Christmas gifts, and this DIY will definitely take my wrapping skills up a notch! Thanks for sharing! Who would’ve thought it’s this easy to create Christmas gift bows!?
Glad you like it, Jae!
These are so cute! I always love going the diy route!
Love this tutorial! My mom always makes her own big bows and I am trying to get in the habit of making my own. It really just completes the packaging!
This is so super cool! It would never occur to me that I could make these myself. My brain just doesn’t work that way but you make it look so easy. I’ll have to pin this for future reference.
Glad you found this tutorial inspirational, Courtney! Let me know how the bows turned out for you!
What!!! That is awesome!!! Brilliant! 🙂
Thanks for the tutorial, I suck at bow making. This post is right on time becuase I haven’t started wrapping presents yet!
Then you will add some extra meaningfulness to you gifts with these handmade gift bows!
I honesty never would have thought that these were home made! They look gorgeous and I definitely need to try and make them myself! x
Those are so cute! I have never seen them made like that (other than the store-bought one! I like it!
Wow, I haven’t ever seen these handmade before! These are my favorite types of bows! Thanks for sharing this tutorial. Oh and I LOVE the ribbon you chose.
Glad you like them, Tawni! Oh, I am obsessed with that metallic ribbon as well. <3
This is a great tutorial and those are some cute bows!
Double sided tape for the win, wonderful idea.
Madelain xos | http://www.wheremyheartwanders.com
Thank you,Medalain! I got totally addicted to double sides tape. I used it in all my Christmas DIYs even though I could have used glue.
So much cuter than store bought bows! I lek them so much I would make them and keep them in a bowl for a fun decoration.
Thank you, Jasmine!
What a creative idea to use them as decorstions! Please let me know how they turned out.
I love your bows and metallic wrapping paper! Such a great DIY!
Greta | http://www.gretahollar.com
I love the wrapping paper and ribbon, too! It’s like they were made for each other.
Glad you enjoyed the tutorial, Greta!
It never occurred to me that someone would know how to make these! Thanks!
To be honest, I never though I would learn how to make these. But it’s quite relaxing making them.
What a good idea! It is even better than a store bought one. I love every chance I can get to save money.
Haha, glad you like it, Mel!
THIS IS GENIUS!!!!! thank you for sharing
Tiffany | http://www.arrowsandawe.com
You’re so crafty! I dont think I would be able to make them this pretty.
Aw, thank you, Jenny! But trust me, they are super easy to create. All you need is a little patience.