How to Make Your Own Hair Bows with Cricut

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Girls are expensive to raise!  I have three, so I am always looking for ways to save a little money.  Making your own hair bows is fun and saves a ton of money.  Cute bows on Etsy for sale for $15.00 and more.  I am going to show you how to make your own hair bows with your Cricut for just a couple of dollars.

Shopping for Supplies

Buying all the supplies was almost as fun as making the bows.  I stocked up on tulle (long and short rolls), leather ribbon, alligator clips, and cute buttons.

In addition to the above-mentioned items, you will need the following:

*hot glue-this is my favorite kind

*glue used for jewelry making

*embroidery floss

I picked up leather ribbon at Hobby Lobby on sale.  The silver sparkly one is actually glitter on canvas ribbon.  It’s 24″ by 8″ and is $4.99 but goes on sale 50% off when the ribbon goes on sale.  I used faux leather I had purchased off Amazon via the link above.  Hobby Lobby sales it in the same size roll as the glitter for the same price, but the colors are pretty limited.

Different Sizes

I found the free SVG cut file for the bow at Gina Creates.  There are three sizes.  The smallest is the perfect toddler size.

The middle one is a good size for a “little” bow for a child

The largest bow makes more of a statement.  I used the largest one for the Elsa bow and this cute “Moana” bow as my daughter calls it.

Cutting the Leather with the Cricut

Cutting the faux leather with the Cricut Maker is the same as with the Cricut Explore Air.  See my earlier post here for details.  Essentially, put the faux leather right side down on the mat and select leather paper-thin in the custom settings.  I noticed with my Cricut Explore Air, the machine cut it twice, but with the Cricut Maker, it only took one cut to do the job.  The glittery canvas ribbon I used for the Elsa bow did require that I use the rotary blade.  The fine point blade just ripped it up.  Also, even though I was using a new green mat when cutting the faux leather, I taped the leather in place with washi tape.

Assembling the Bows

The cute buttons are by Dress It Up.  They have many officially licensed Disney characters and some that look suspiciously like some princesses we know and love.

These are buttons and have the plastic loop on the back.  I just cut the loop off with a pair of scissors in order to glue them flat to the bows.  They are sold in packs of 3 at Hobby Lobby for $2.99 and I used a 40% off coupon.

Hot glue can be used for gluing the pieces of the bow together.

Just place a dab in the middle on the back side and fold down the bow and secure the other side the same way.

Use hot glue to attach the top of the bow to the base too.  Use E6000 to attach the button to the center of the bow.  Use a large hair clip to hold the embellishment in place while it dries.  Use E6000 to adhere the bow to the metal alligator clip.

Let’s Talk About Tule

I love the way these Frozen bows turned out!

The light blue and the magenta tulles have subtle glitter and were 6″ rolls.  The dark blue and the silver (used with Olaf) are 3″ rolls with larger pieces of glitter. You can use a piece of cardboard to wrap the tule around.  Just wrap until you get enough layers to give the bow some volume and to increase the visual saturation of the color.

Pinch the tulle between your fingers and thumb to make the bow and secure using a clip.

Secure your bow using embroidery floss.

Layer the tulle and leather in any configuration you like.  For the Ana bow, I stacked two tulle bows on top of the leather base, for Elsa I sandwiched the tulle bow between the leather bow and leather base, and with Olaf, I put the tulle bow on top of the leather bow.  Hot glue works great for attaching the layers of the bow together.

When applying the button to the bow, use E6000 for added security.  Also, attach the bow to the metal alligator clip with E6000.

If you purchase your supplies on sale, you can make one of these bows for about $1.50, much cheaper than you would pay on Etsy.  Not only are you saving money, but you are also having fun!