Create Kids Couture: Tutorial Tuesday: The Perfect Bow

So if you follow Create Kids Couture on Instragram you saw this sneak peek photo last week of a "How To" that I was working on.

Today we are re-releasing the Lola's dress to feature more sizes. And I got so excited that Ayla's size was now included. So I whipped up a tiny 6-12 mo Lola using some cute fabric. My first thought was to make it all the same fabric. You know, sweet and simple? Well if you know me personally, follow me on instagram or were ever a fan of my business page back in the day you know that Morgan and simple are never used in the same sentence. And I did like it at first, just sweet and simple and then well I tried it on Ayla and felt as if it was just way to plain for our liking.

So I knew it was time to pull an old trick out of this southern seamstress's bag. It was time to either monogram it or add a bow. So off to the sewing room we went. Ayla watched some Yo Gabba Gabba on the laptop and played with Lucy the beagle while I whipped up this quick and easy How To.

Lets start by cutting out the pieces you need. Cut one 10x42 and one 4x8 piece.

*Please note that this tutorial is for the size of bow featured above. And the bow is placed on a size 12mo dress. Please note that your bow may not look as large on your little ones dresses. But this concept can be easily made into a larger bow with just a little math. (I will post the sizes to cut for a larger bow at a later date)

Taking our 10" x 42" piece fold and iron right sides facing. To create a 5" x 42" piece. Then going 1/2" in on each side cut a 45 degree angle using the bias lines that are provided on your cutting mat. And then repeat to the other side.

Step 2: Mark the center of your piece and then place a pin 1" to the left and right of the center mark.

Step 3: Starting at 1 of 2 pins you sew down the length and the angle of the piece. Then repeat on other side. This will create a 2" opening.

Using some type of dowel rod (I use my 10" knitting needle) turn the piece right side out though the center 2" hole and iron flat.

Stitch the hole closed and continue to top stitch around the entire piece.

After topstitching, we will place pins in the quarter marks to create landmarks for our next step.

We will start by folding down both ends at the quarter marks. Then fold each piece onto itself in the center. Or in simple turns.... fold it into even thirds. ;) This is our "Bow"

Now we will move on to creating the "Knot" part of our bow. Take your 4" x 8" piece and fold both sides into the center. Then fold and press the corners down and then press into thirds. Like shown below.

Now we will place the "Knot" onto the dress in witch you are adding the bow. Note that the flaps of the "knot" will be placed face down. Here you can see I found the bottom center of the bodice and pinned in place.