I love sashes and I love bows! That is, I love bows that are tied neatly. Not so much the ones that are uneven or twisted funny or smashed. It's not that I go around judging other people's bows. I probably don't even notice them when they're imperfect. But I think everybody notices when bows are tied carefully as a gorgeous finishing touch!
Furthermore, I've heard it said that girls' bows will always be messed up so we might as well not fuss over them. I completely disagree! While I love that my daughter runs and plays in her dresses, that doesn't have to mean that her bows end up falling out. I have a little trick for tying a perfect bow every time - one that turns out even on both sides and stands up to a good amount of abuse! And it's even simple enough that I have taught my daughter how to tie her own sashes this way. Are you ready to learn?
The process is really quite simple but I'm going to give a play-by-play just to make sure we're all on the same page. Keep in mind that I am right handed and if you're left handed you may want to do the opposite.
First take both ends of the sash and fold them together once, as shown in the photo above.
With the piece on the right, make a large loop going up.
With the piece on the left make another loop going up. Have one loop in each hand, both the same length.
Cross the two loops, as shown above.
Now we will tie the two loops in a knot, as shown in the photo above and the photo below.
With the loops in a knot, pull out on the loops until they are the length we want them.
Notice in the photo above that one of the tails is laying in front of the bow on the left and the other is in an awkward position on the right. In the next three photos I will show you what to do with the tails.
First take the tail on the left that's in front, and lift it up as shown in the picture above. Pull it down behind the loop it was covering.
The photo above shows that the left tail is now below/behind the left loop.
Do the same with the right tail, wrapping it around to a natural position so the tail points down without tugging on the loop.
With both loops going straight out and both tails going straight down, we can now pull on the loops to be sure they are snug and even.
And there you have it, a perfect bow! My daughter will undoubtedly smash it against a chair when she sits down, but the knot stays intact and the loops don't twist and come undone. Obviously even a perfect bow will still come undone if her teasing brothers decide to pull on it, but other than that our bow is pretty sturdy!
I'm sure there are other successful ways to tie bows and the important part is that the tails end up going downward without twisting the loops. I think my method was easiest for teaching my daughter, and it works especially well on short ties like Poppy's.
If you'd like an easy way to remember all the steps to this tutorial, I made a cheat chart for you to save on Pinterest! Just click on the red button on the image below.
Have fun tying those bows! No more need for twisted, smashed, crooked, or dangly bows. You can now tie them perfectly every time.
Let's Create! ~ Kristen
