ACCESSORY DIY: Striped Bow with Oly-Fun

Alex has been eager to start middle school come September. She's fond of all the wacky hair accessories I make, and tends to wear many of them to school. From flowers, to snakes, to skeleton hands...she's worn them all and always gets positive comments. I wanted to make her a statement accessory, so I chose an over-sized bow style, that stood off her head, vs the tradition ones that lay again a head. I was sent a few chosen colors of Oly*Fun fabric by Fairfield World to play with. I used their fabric to create this project. It has a great stiffness and durability that is perfect for this kid friendly accessory. I wrote a review of Oly*Fun, to give you more info on this awesome material and show what else I made with it. Ok, onto the tutorial!


SUPPLIES:
  • 1/8 yard of purple (Jelly) and lime green (kiwi) Oly*Fun fabric
  • Lime green cotton/polyester thread - I used Coat and Clark All Purpose Thread in article 210 color 359 Kiwi
  • A sewing machine with straight and zig zag stitches - If you don't own a machine, you can sew this by hand
  • A low temp hot glue gun and glue sticks
  • Scissors
  • A small metal barrette blank
  • Lime green and purple dimensional paint - I used Tulip Slick from a value pack. Any formula would work, if it doesn't require heat
  • Wax paper - This protects your work surface while using the dimensional paint and hot glue

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Cut 8 even long rectangle strips of purple and lime Oly*Fun. 4 purple and 4 lime. Each strip is about 16 inches long by 1 inch wide.

2) Using a sewing machine, straight stitch the strips together, overlapping the edges about 1/4 inch. Alternate the colors to create contrasting stripes. This will create a long striped piece of fabric.

3) Fold the striped fabric in half, to find the center. Overlapped the short ends about 1/4 inch, on the center. Straight stitch the ends along the center.

4) Straight stitch along the top and bottom, to close two remaining fabric openings.


5) Cut a long thin 1.5 inch rectangle of purple Oly*Fun for the center wrap. Mine is about 6-7 inches long.

6) Overlapped the long edges of that center wrap piece, and zig sag stitch down the center with lime green thread, to secure the raw edges.

7) Lay the striped bow flat on the wax paper, front side up. Test one color of dimensional paint on a section of wax paper, to make sure it's flowing well. Make even dots carefully across the stripe of the contrasting color. Leave about 1 inch empty in the center. This will be covered by the center wrap later. Do the same for the other color and remaining stripes. Let the dots dry fully dry before moving on. This will take about an hour or more, depending on the dot size and paint type.


8) Fold the bow in half, back side together. Pleat the sides towards the center fold. On the top, you could have 3 mountains, 2 valleys, and 2 sides pointed down. The fabric creases, so it should keep it's folds slightly while not being held together by hand.

9) Plug in the hot glue gun, to warm it. Make sure it has a glue stick in it. If not, add one. Lay the gun on the wax paper, to catch any excess glue.

10) After the gun is warm, add a little glue to the center fold on the back, along where the overlapping ends are. Hold the fold shut until it cools. Close the other two back fold the same way. Be very careful, as the glue is very hot and can easily burn you.

11) Flip the bow over, and close the remaining folds the same way.


12) Along center back of the bow, add a little hot glue. Carefully press one end of the purple center wrap into the glue. Hold into place until the glue cools.

13) Open the barrette and gently remove the metal curved spring. You will add this back later.

14) Along the edge, in the direction the center wrap is headed, add some hot glue the same length as the barrette. Press the barrette back into the hot glue. Hold still until the glue cools.

15) Now it's time to finish securing the center wrap. Apply a little hot glue along the center wrap and wrap it around the bow center. Do this in small sections. My center wrap went around twice.

16) Fold over the end of the strip, under itself. Add a little hot glue to keep it closed. Add a little hot glue to the folded end and press onto the center wrap. Mine finished on the back, where it started. If you have too much fabric to finish it on the back, cut it back till it has 1/4 inch left. That 1/4 inch will be folded over and glued on the back. Hold the folded end down until the glue cools.


I made several things with Oly*Fun, but this was my favorite project to show you how to make. You can find more from Fairfield World on their websitestoreFacebookTwitterBlog, and Pinterest. The Oly*Fun website has projects, a store, all the colors and more product info.

DISCLOSURE: Fairfield World provided me with Oly*Fun fabric for this project. Read my full review here. All projects and opinions are my own.

Comments

  1. wow! That definitely is a statement! so pretty :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This bow is so pretty. Thanks for showing me how to make one.

    ReplyDelete

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