How to DIY a purty baby bow out of fabric scraps

We featured Monica (did she not look stunning? in her green dress, cast and all!) and Paul's wedding on Offbeat Bride a few days ago.  Now the lovely wedded couple are new parents of a bouncing and beautiful girl, Amber Cassandra! Monica was kind enough to share her adorable baby bow tutorial made out of fabric scraps, and we're stoked to feature this simple but cutesy patootsey DIY project! – Offbeat Shrie

I didn’t really plan this project. I just thought “Hmm, what can I do with these extra scraps of fabric?” and ended up with this headband idea! Please keep in mind that I measured nothing and am just giving my best guesstimate on the sizes of things. If anyone else tries this and finds better dimensions, let us know so we can pass it on!

In keeping with my haphazard style, the pictures are not to scale relative to the end product or each other. I’m just trying to remember, months later, how I made this thing in order to give you a rough guide. I didn’t have a crochet hook when I made mine and I paid dearly for it. You definitely want one or something like it when making the headband portion of this.

Materials:

• Fabric scrap approximately 2"x5"

• Coordinating fabric scrap approximately 16"x1"

• Elastic approximately 14"x5"

• Crochet hook

• Needle and thread (to match)

Step 1:

Let's start with the headband: Fold the 16"x1" piece of coordinating fabric in towards the middle. You might want to iron it to keep the seam on the inside of the band. Sew the two raw edges together as shown to form a tube. I recommend stitching the raw edges together first and then do a second stitching a teeny bit farther in to create a neat hem.

Step 2:

Sew one end of the elastic to one end of the tube and use the crochet hook to pull the tube inside out while simultaneously pulling the elastic through. Be sure to hold on to the other end of the elastic. It should be significantly shorter than the fabric so the fabric will bunch up.

Step 3:

Then you can sew the two ends of the elastic and fabric together. Be careful not to twist it (like I did –oops!) or it could put uncomfortable pressure on the baby’s head. I used my knee on my bent leg as a rough guide for the sizing. My 1 month old’s head is close to average at around 14” around.

Click on the images for bigger, blown-up versions of these itty-bitties.

Step 4:

Moving on to the bow: Take the small 2"x5" piece of fabric and cut off a strip a little over 1/2" wide as marked off with the dotted line in the materials picture. Fold over the edges as shown in Fig. 1, iron hems down and then straight stitch BOTH PIECES as shown.

Step 5:

Match up the short raw sides of the larger bow piece together in the middle of the fabric. Gather and sew together in the middle as shown in figure 4.

Step 6:

Take the ends of the headband piece, the gathered part of the bow and one end of the smaller piece of bow fabric and sew them together as shown in figure 5. Wrap the smaller piece of fabric around everything and sew it onto the back.

Voila! You have a cutie bow headband. I can’t guarantee that your child will be as adorable as mine, but you can try! This was easy, but took a little trial and error. If you have improvements to my tutorial please do let us all know! Cute quilting cotton or similar fabric works the best. Let your imagination run wild!

About Monica Berry:

Monica has her bachelor's in Art and German from Illinois College. Her and her husband just popped out a beautiful daughter, Amber Cassandra. Their little family also includes two kitties and one milksnake. Monica loves all sorts of art and craft projects from drawing & ceramics to jewelry-making & scrapbooking.

To get to know Monica Berry better, click here.