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A perfect bow is the finishing touch on any DIY wreath! I’ll show you three SUPER easy ways to make a bow for a wreath, plus a few extra tips and tricks.
I often get asked for bow making tutorials to go with my wreaths, especially my Faux Boxwood Wreath DIY and my Fall Leaf Wreath. Making beautiful bows is not as scary as some people think, and you don’t need any crafty skills, promise! You don’t even need to know how to tie a bow!
These simple bow techniques are also great for holiday decorating and gifting. Its how I make bows for garland and stairs and even outdoor decorating. These DIY ribbon bows make a perfect Christmas tree bow, either for nestling in the branches, or a tree topper bow. It seems like around the holidays, there’s always something that needs a little finishing touch, and knowing how to make a bow out of ribbon is a great way to add that extra holiday magic.
pssst…if you just want to buy a bow already made, check out this round-up of the prettiest premade holiday bows.
I starting making these bows back when I ran a baby hairbow boutique (Simply Lulu Boutique, anybody remember? lol). I’ve modified it slightly to make bows with tails. But you can also leave the tails off! Honestly, these DIY bows can be used on almost anything!
Supplies needed to make a DIY bow for a wreath
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Ribbon
Pretty important item for a bow! haha There are lots of different types of ribbon out there, but I like using a nice wide ribbon, at least 2-3 inches wide. You can use either wired edge ribbon or regular. Wired ribbon gives you a little more control over the shape of the loops and any bends in the tails. Regular ribbon may be a little droopier or stiff, depending on what the ribbon is made of.
String or Wire
You’ll need a piece of string or flexible wire to cinch the ribbon together. I use floral wire from the Dollar Tree and it works great, or you can also find a spool of floral wire on Amazon. You could even use a twisty tie. Pretty much anything will do, as it’ll get covered up with ribbon. You’ll see. 😉
Hot Glue Gun
Since we’re doing this the easy way, we’ll need hot glue for the finishing touch on our wreath bow. Low or high temp glue gun is fine. I like these basic little hot glue guns from Amazon. Nothing fancy!
There are a lots of different ways to make a beautiful bow, but I have three different easy bow styles/techniques to choose from:
– classic single loop
– double loop
– triple loop (or as many loops as you’d like!)
The classic single loop is similar to my easy floppy bow. If you’re using a softer ribbon, and you want a bow with a bit of a droop to it, you could use this tutorial or the floppy bow tutorial.
How to make a simple single loop bow
1. Start by cutting a long piece of ribbon. I typically use about a 1.5-2 yards, depending on how dramatic or floppy you want it. Also, the wider your ribbon is, the longer your ribbon will need to be. This ribbon is 3.5 inches, and I used 1.5 yds. I think 2 yards would have been better though, to make longer tails. For 2 in ribbon, around 1 yard should be fine.
2. Make a loop, like shown. The ribbon on the end will be the tails, so adjust the size of the loop accordingly.
3. Bring the middle of the loop down to where the ribbons cross, and cinch it with your fingers. You may need to adjust the size of the loop, depending on if you want bigger or smaller loops of your bow.
4. Secure with string or wire.
5. Cut a small piece of ribbon for the “knot”. You can fold or tie a knot in it, if desired.
6. Glue knot in place and secure ends on the back. It doesn’t have to be pretty, no ones going to see the back! You can leave the wire or string on, to secure the bow to the wreath, or you can cut them off and when the time comes you can just hot glue the bow to the wreath.