Sew felt bows with your own hands: pattern, diagrams and description

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Felt bows can serve as a wonderful decoration for children's clothing or hair ties. With simple execution, these products look very cute and can become both an adornment for every day and decor for a carnival costume or outfit for a performance. Felt bows can also be used to decorate dolls and sew dresses for stylized mannequins. A felt bow will be an excellent design solution for creative gift wrapping for New Year or Christmas. In this article we will tell you the history of the emergence of such a material as felt, and also describe a step-by-step plan for sewing a felt bow. At the end of the article you will traditionally find examples of the most spectacular works, as well as a pattern.

A brief history of felt

Wool has been used since ancient times. The ancestor of felt was dense felt, which became a universal material for many peoples.It was especially liked by the nomads, who used felt to make literally all their utensils: the tops of yurts, carpets, cradles, analogues of bed linen and most clothes were made from it. This tradition was widespread among the nomadic peoples of Mongolia and Altai. The fabric was dense enough to keep out cold and rain, but light enough to quickly fold the entire home and transport it to another place.

Unlike its older counterpart, Bart, felt is more delicate and soft. The properties of felt are indicated by its very name, which comes from the French word “feutre”, “sensitive”. Felt is made from fine down of a rabbit, goat or hare. Just like felt, it is quite wear-resistant and durable.

In the 1880s, felt toys came into fashion. The first bows made from this material appeared on them, and then doll fashion moved to children's clothing and accessories. It is believed that one of the first companies to produce products from this material was the German company Steiff at the end of the 19th century.

What you need to sew a felt bow

For felt bows, you can use either single-color material or felt strips of different colors. Contrasting shades or colors with a difference of several shades will look good. The combination of different colors will help to enliven the product and add volume.

• A piece of felt of different colors. You can take ready-made strips of felt with a width of 3 to 4 centimeters and a length of 6 to 13 centimeters.
• Sewing supplies (needles, threads to match the product, scissors, etc.).
• For decoration, you can use beads or felt appliques glued with glue.
• A marker for marking and a ruler if the choice fell on a solid piece of material.

Step-by-step master class for sewing a felt bow

It is best to choose relatively dense felt fabrics, the best option is at least 1-3 mm. Felt fabric of this density will keep its shape. If you want to make a felt bow multifunctional, you can attach it to a bail (brooch clasp) using a glue gun.

1. Cut felt ribbons measuring 13 by 4 or 9 by 3 centimeters.
2. We make a bow from the longest ribbon, placing the ends of the ribbon on top of each other.
3. We secure the edge of the resulting product, gather it into a bow and sew it together using a thread and a needle.
4. We also fold the second smaller ribbon into a similar bow and secure the central part.
5. We sew the first and second product together middle to middle.
6. Using the remaining fragment of a small felt ribbon, we additionally wrap the middle of the felt bow and secure it.
7. If desired, you can use a glue gun to attach a felt bow to the bail or sew the product to an elastic band.