Easy hand sewn hair bow tie clips

I love this project. I hand sewed mine, but you could absolutely use a machine and make them even faster.

You will need:

• a 8.5 inch wide by 5 inch tall piece of fabric (if it's directional- otherwise just 8.5x 5 inches)
• pinking shears
• sewing needle
• thread
• pins
• 2 tapestry needles
• embroidery floss
• buttons

You will also need some sort of clips. I used plastic clips for mine that didn't have sewing holes. If you prefer to sew on the clips, use a different type. I used E-6000 glue to glue my bows to the clips.

If you use a knit fabric- regular scissors will work. Pinking shears are recommended for woven fabrics or you can seal the edges with a very light coat of either watered down PVA glue or Fray Check.

Cut 2 strips, 8.5 x 2.5 inches

Fold and finger press one end a half inch to the back.

Now you're going to do the trickiest part. Fold the fabric right sides together with the folded edge centered on the back on the inside and the other edge overlapping that. Pin it.

Now stitch the two long edges.

When you turn it right side out, making sure the corners are completely turned using something like a chopstick or a pen it will look sort of like a pillow sham with the folded edge on the outside of the back.

I marked the stitches to gather the center with pins since I was using black thread. If the fabric is fairly thin, 6 evenly spaced stitches works. For a thicker fabric like the knit I used- 4 stitches worked, sectioning the gathers into 3 different gathers. Top, 1/3 down, 2/3s down, bottom, starting from the front. 

Pull stitches tight to gather. 

To put on the button, I threaded 2 tapestry needles with one length of 3 strands of embroidery floss, then pushed both needles through, and tied in knot on the back. 

Because the fabric was thick, it needed extra gathering. Since the gathers were set by the stitches, I wrapped them tighter with the tails of the embroidery floss, bringing each end in opposite directions around the bow, under the button, then tying tightly. 

Then glued the bows on the clips! If you're using a directional fabric, make sure you face the clips in opposite directions. 

I love these, they are simple to make with scraps of fabric- or making them a little smaller, they can be made with Spoonflower swatches, which is what I used for my prototypes. 

This fabric is available for sale in my Spoonflower shop