Korker Hairbows

This past Wednesday I got together with Sarah and another friend so we could try our hand at making Korker hair bows. You only need a few supplies to make several and some time.  I made square ribbon and Sarah made round.  I say made because you actually bake the ribbon in order to get the curls.  In honor of the upcoming St. Patrick's holiday I chose greens (and because Boo LOVES green) and Sarah went with a more spring-time theme.

You'll need 100% polyester ribbon, dowel rods (round or square) of whatever size you'd like the curls to be, wooden clothespins, and spray starch.  I used two different sizes of dowel rods, 1/4 in and 3/16 in.  I liked the smaller one because it made tighter curls and was a good size for baby/toddler bows.  Tightly wrap the ribbon around the dowel rod and secure the ends with the clothespins.  I then sprayed the ribbon with starch.  I used two different kinds of starch, Best Press and Faultless, and decided that although I prefer the Best Press when sewing/quilting, the Faultless is better for the hair bow ribbon.  I baked the ribbon on an old cookie sheet at 250 degrees for 30 minutes and then decided that for the second and third batch I would increase the temperature to 300 degrees for 30 minutes.  Both worked, just keep an eye on the ribbon so you don't burn them.

Ready to bake

 After the ribbon cools completely you can unwrap it.

Unwrapping the ribbon

Ready to cut

Because all of our daughters are younger we decided to make smaller bows.  I made two smaller ones for Boo to wear with pigtails. We cut the ribbon into 2.5 inch lengths and used Fray Check on the ends to keep them from unraveling.  Then you thread a needle with some heavy weight thread and start stacking your ribbon on the needle.  Once you have the number of ribbon pieces on the needle you'd like, we did seven or eight, you pull the needle through and sew the ribbons together, think sewing a button.  The thread will be covered by the curls.  Then using hot glue, we covered two alligator clips with matching ribbon and hot glued the bows on top.  Done!

Ready for St. Patrick's Day

Lovin' her bow!