Has your daughter ever gotten dressed and when you’re done with her hair you’ve gone hunting for a bow or flower to match her outfit & didn’t have one, or couldn’t find the one you know should be on your bow board? Well here’s a quick & easy fix! Best part is there is no sewing or gluing involved and you can whip up one of these cuties in just minutes!

This idea was actually shared with me by one of our readers last year around this time, and I am finally getting around to posting my attempt at her cute idea. I did this months ago and like I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I had a ton of pictures on my SD card that I hadn’t uploaded.

I thought this would be great to share as a new school year is almost upon us (or already in full swing for some of you) and if you’re like me, you have random rolls of ribbon lying around that you don’t know what to do with. And since the “good ol’ bow” is coming back in as an accessory, this is a perfect quick fix.

Items needed:

Ribbon (obviously!), or scraps of fabric, hair elastics (colored or clear), scissors, ruler, alligator clip (can also use a bobby pin, or a snap clip), and if you want to seal the edges you’ll need matches or a lighter. If you want to attach it to a headband, you’ll need one of those too.

Step 1 – Measure & cut ribbon to desired length

Step 2 – Seal ends of ribbon

Step 3 – Fold ribbon accordion style

Step 4 – Wrap hair elastic around middle of ribbon

Step 5- Fan ribbon out to take desired bow shape

Step 6 – Slide alligator clip through elastic

Step 7 – Attach to headband, or hairstyle

As a side note – we have headbands that have ribbon looped around them and I simply have to slip the alligator clip through that loop to keep it on the headband. If you don’t have headbands like that, you could easily take a small strip of ribbon & hot glue it to your headband forming a loop. Then you’re good to go. Or if you don’t want to deal with that step, slip another rubber band around your headband and then slide your alligator clip through the rubber band.

We made these cuties in just a matter of minutes.

And on a non-girly-hair note — wouldn’t one like this look darling as a little bow tie for your little boy? Just slip an alligator clip through the back of the rubber band and then slide it through his button hole to secure it & voila! Instant bow tie!

But for us we just slipped them onto headbands & we had instant bows to match any outfit!

Our reader that shared her idea with us is from Make It Handmade & unlike me, she’s quite the seamstress and makes some of the cutest things. These next 3 pictures are courtesy of her blog. Here she shows you’ve got several options with your ribbon bow on how you want to attach it depending on the hair you’re working with. She made this one from a scrap of fabric.

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And this is her cute little daughter sporting a few of the bows she made with just scraps of fabric leftover from the outfits she’d sewed for her.

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Isn’t she just simply the cutest thing ever? I just want to squeeze her sweet little cheeks!

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And in a nutshell: