Morning all,

How are you doing today? I’ll be honest I’ve been having a tough week, not helped by a lingering headache! So yesterday I put on the wellies and took the pugs for a long walk to clear my head, followed by taking my lovely grandparents out for coffee, who never fail to make me smile and gain a nice sense of perspective on life. So back home yesterday evening I did a bit of good old fashioned pen to paper planning and thankfully I’m feeling much more positive!

Do you get days / weeks like that, where you just loose focus and question yourself too much? It can be quite difficult to snap out of so if you have any tips on what works for you then do share!?

So onwards and upwards today with a DIY tutorial that I’m rather proud of! Kat from Rock n Roll Bride featured it a few weeks ago but I wanted to share it too ;-)

DIY Bow Ties…

What you’ll need:

Fabric, Velcro, a sewing machine, a needle and thread, scissors, ruler and a pen

Preparation

1. Set up and thread your sewing machine

2. Cut two 5cm long strips of Velcro

3. Measure and cut out three pieces of fabric which measure:

Two pieces which are 50 x 8 cm (for the bow and the collar)

One piece which is 8 x 10 cm (for the bow center)

Make the bow

Once you can make these bow’s you can use them for other projects too, a head band or cute fabric bow ring for yourself maybe?!

1. Take one of the pieces of fabric measuring 50 x 8cm and fold it in half, with the wrong side of the fabric showing

2. Sew along three edges (leaving one of the short ends open for turning) and snip the very corners off, this makes turning out neater in the corners!

3. Turn the bow inside out so the nice side of the fabric is showing, don’t worry about the unfinished end…

4. Now fold the short ends into the center

5. Do a big zig-zag stitch down the center to secure the ends together on the machine – you might need some machine tension adjustment here as it’s fairly thick!

6. Now fold the bow in half again long ways and stitch a 3cm straight line across the zig-zag seam… to ‘pinch’ together in the middle

7. To make the bow center take the 8 x 10cm piece of fabric and fold it in half length ways (with the wrong side on the outside).

8. Stitch down two of the edges, leaving a short end open again for turning

9. Turn out the center and set aside for now, again don’t worry about the unfinished end!

Make the collar

1. Using the last piece of fabric measuring 50 x 8cm, fold in half long ways, with the outside facing out

2. Sew down the long side and one short end, keeping fairly close to the edge if you can

3. Now turn out the collar. This is probably the trickiest bit, I used a wooden spoon to push the fabric through and out!

4. To finish the ends, fold over the very end of the short side which you didn’t sew then place a 2 inch piece of Velcro on either end… one will need to go on the opposite side so it can fasten properly

5. Sew your Velcro onto each end – one big zig-zag stitch down the middle of the Velcro strips will do this fine

Putting it all together!

1. Make a little mark half way along the collar then add your bow and wrap the center around it all to meet at the back

2. Turn it all over and adjust the tightness as you hold it to make the bow look right from the front

3. Using a needle and thread hand sew the ends of the bow center together at the back

And you’re done! Phew…

I’ll also made a blue, floral version… just to show you can mix it up a bit!

And forced my fiancee to model them for me, which he was less than thrilled about ;-)

I hope you enjoyed this little project, coming up tomorrow is some pretty inspiration and a fabulous crafty event that’s not to be missed!

Have a good, productive and positive day!

Chloe x