With Christmas rapidly approaching, the decorations are starting to come down from the attic and the Christmas trees are finally going up in our homes. If you're hoping to make some of your own decorations for your tree this year, you might have already bought some fabrics and other materials to get started. At home I like to decorate my own Christmas tree with bows that I have made myself, and in today's blog I'll be walking you through how to make a perfect bow using fabric and a few other items. What you'll need:
  • 0.5 metre of Christmas Fabric for each bow you want to make
  • A cotton reel to match your bow
  • A safety pin
  • Something to attach your bows to your tree (i.e. garden wire, etc.)
Step One Cut a small piece, about 5cm wide, off the short edge of your fabric. Put this aside and keep for later. Step Two Cut your remaining piece of fabric in half width-ways, so that you have two 25cm wide pieces. Take one and, with right sides together, sew the long edges together. Repeat with the second piece. Step Three Turn both pieces right side out. Sew the ends closed on one piece so that you have a complete rectangle. Take the second piece and sew the two short ends together so that you have a tube of fabric. Step Four Take the small piece of fabric you cut off earlier and, with right sides together, sew the long edges together. Turn right side out when you are done. Step Five Lay your two pieces (the tube and the rectangle) flat and find the centre of each piece. Pinch these together and use a safety pin to hold in place. Take your small piece of fabric and hand-sew one end of it to the back of the pinched pieces. Step Six Wrap the small piece around the centre of the tube and rectangle pieces. Hand-sew the second end of it to the back of the bow (trim the length if needed). Attach your tree fastening to the back of  the centre piece, and you have a completed bow, ready to attach to your tree.     [caption id="attachment_5941" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Christmas Ribbons A selection of Christmas Ribbons by Berties Bows, available to buy online or in-store.[/caption]   This technique can also be used for making clothing items such as bow-ties, hair bows and costume pieces. You can also adjust the size of the bow as you see fit, using either more or less fabric to suit your own needs. Have you made any of your own Christmas decorations this year? Take a photograph and upload it to our Facebook page - we love to see what our customers come up with! Until next time, Calico Laine