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
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