Hair Bow Clip Tutorial - Made from Recycled fabric!

The Egg staff love to craft in their spare time and we regularly make clothing and accessories but we always end up with lots of fabric scraps at the end! :(
The 'ReThink Fashion' show we visited last week at MOSI inspired us to start getting creative with how we could use these left overs to make something new!

We gathered the off-cuts together and decided to make some big hair bows as we love hair accessories and they are so simple to make! We have put together a step-by-step guide to show you how to make a super simple stitch-free hair bow too :)

We are using old bits of fabric from our previous craft projects, but you could use fabric from pretty much anywhere. You could cut up some old clothes that no longer fit or are damaged; you may have some old curtains or soft home furnishings that you don't use, or maybe an old scarf has been left unworn for months!

You will need:

-Scissors (If you are using cotton we recommend pinking shears to stop the edges from fraying)

-A long rectangular piece of re-cycled fabric (The longer the strip, the bigger the bow!)

-A small strip of fabric for the centre

-Fabric Glue or a Glue Gun

-A hair grip

We are using this glittery netting to make our bow. Netting is particularly good to use for this project as the edges don't fray and it keeps its structure really well once in a bow shape.

1. Find the centre of the long strip of fabric and apply a thin line of glue down the middle.

Take the outside edge of one side and fold it over into the centre, sticking the edge to the line of glue.

Put another line of glue down the centre and fold the other outside edge into the middle and stick down. 

2. Once the glue is dry, begin to fold or gather the fabric, adding glue dots in between folds to keep it together. We found the best result was from making 3 equal sized concertina folds to get that bow-like structure.

3. Once the folds have dried, take the smaller strip of fabric, put a dot of glue on the gathered section at the back and begin to wrap the strip around the centre to hide the glue underneath. Finish it off with another small dot of glue at the back to keep it in place

 4. Hooray! The bow is complete :) All you need to do now is add the hair clip! Just add a dot of glue on the back and hold the grip in place. If you are using a grip like the one above, keep it open whilst drying to avoid it sticking together. Alternatively you could use an alligator or barette clip so you can gather bigger of sections hair with it, or you could attach a safety pin and wear it as a brooch!

Why not get crafty and make some handmade gifts for your family & friends using re-cycled fabric this Christmas? Save money, re-cycle something and give a gift that is special and unique! You could experiment using different fabrics such as cotton or velvet too!

Let us know if you follow our tutorial and make a bow! We would love to see pics. Either send it to our Facebook inbox, tweet @eggthunder or tag us on instagram with @thundereggmanchester <3

Thunder Egg Visit: ReThink Fashion Show at MOSI 27/11/14

We love all things fashion-related here at Thunder Egg, so when we saw that Recycle for Greater Manchester was holding a special fashion event at MOSI in Manchester, we decided to go along!

Every year more clothing and textile items are thrown away when they could be worn or used again. The Re-Think Fashion event was held to demonstrate how clothing could be swapped, donated, recycled or up cycled to avoid it ending up in landfill. It was full of fantastic ideas to inspire people to do their bit for the environment and make sure that unwanted textiles are not put to waste.

The Market Place

There was a market place set up in the entrance for local businesses to sell their re-worked and vintage items. It included some of our neighbours in the Northern Quarter, such as Pop Boutique and Doll Season.

                   Doll Season                        Pop Boutique                  Emmaus Mossley

We love Doll Season! The very talented Kate makes unique sweaters & denim jackets featuring My Little Pony, Hello Kitty and Barbie.The Egg staff are regulars at her brilliant shop on the second floor of Afflecks which also sells jewellery and prints. You can also browse the amazing creations here.

Pop Boutique was selling a range of re-worked and up-cycled vintage outfits featuring some must-have velvet co-ords (pictured). They also had some gorgeous colourful retro cushions made from old fabrics. They have a shop a few doors down from us on Oldham St in Manchester and are online too.

Emmaus Mossley is a secondhand superstore based near Mossley Railway Station in Tameside. Not only do they have a great pick of secondhand items, but they also offer a home and work to previously homeless and unemployed people. It is an excellent cause to support and they had some really quirky retro and vintage finds on their stall! It is well worth a visit to their shop if you are a thrifty vintage hunter. 

One of our favourite stalls of the evening was by Sausage Dog. It had a bizarre and wonderful collection of soft toys, puppets and cute gifts, all made from recycled fabrics! Our favourite item was the crazy but cute Poo pins that came in a little matchbox, they even had little googly eyes!! The etsy shop can be found here. 

                 SausageDog

The Fashion Show

Next up in the evening was the fashion show. The catwalk showcased work from Designers, Shops & Students who all incorporated recycling into their collection. We were so impressed with the outfits! The thing we really loved most about the show was the diverse range of styles which demonstrated just how versatile recycling your textiles could be. There was everything from beautiful corsets and gorgeous evening gowns to super-cool jackets and incredible couture.

One of our favourite collections of the evening was Doll Season teamed with Stakkabridge. The bold and brilliant jackets from Doll Season, featuring Barbie, My Little Pony and cute fur trims, looked so on-trend with the Stakkabridge dresses. Stakkabridge is an independent clothing company, specializing in items made from re-cycled fabrics such as old bed covers, children's textiles and more! They incorporate fun and retro prints, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, into their flattering and fashionable cuts. We are new-found fans of their clothing :) Their website can be found here. 

One of the most outstanding collections of the evening was the work of Adnan Bayyat. His avant-garde creations included outfits made from paper and cling film and what we loved most were the fun and bright colours! The designs and detail was so creative and we fell in love with every outfit that came out along that catwalk. Find out more about his work here.


We really enjoyed our evening at MOSI, looking at all of these beautiful and environmentally friendly creations! It has inspired us to experiment with some of our old clothing and unused textiles to create something exciting and new. We will be posting updates and tutorials of our re-cycling adventures over the next few weeks :)

All information about recycling in Greater Manchester can be found here. They have some great tips and ideas for recycling, up-cycling or donating your unwanted items.