PEP tangles - my Zentangle Inspired Art blog

Friday 16 December 2011

Tying A Patterned Ribbon Bow Right Side Up

The main inspiration for what follows is a video tutorial by Becca Feeken of Amazing Paper Grace where she explains how to tie peg bows. I like to have my ribbon tails both exiting the bow from behind & showing the right side (as Becca does), moreover with a patterned ribbon having an up or down motif (as in my example where the flower stems grow up out of the ground) I don't want any part of the bow looking as if it is upside down. Not always having pegs to hand I thought I would see if it was possible to do something similar using my fingers & the following is what resulted.







1) Using a piece of ribbon about 12 inches long








2) & placing the bottom edge of patterning to the left, loop the ribbon around the first two fingers as shown.





3) Taking the left tail place it over the right ribbon & flip over between the first two fingers.





4) Turn the hand over & ensure the right side of the ribbon you have just flipped over is facing you & the bottom edge of the pattern is to the left.







5) Insert the tail down through the gap between the two fingers as shown.





6) Turn the hand back so the palm faces you & the ribbon just inserted through the gap has the wrong side facing you.





7) Pull the top tail straight down so the wrong side faces you & the tail is towards the right of the first  tail as shown.





8) Taking the left tail fold it up & over the second tail as shown.





9) Insert the tail through the loop formed by the second tail as shown.





10) Pull the first tail upwards & the second tail downwards ensuring both the tails have their wrong sides facing you.






11) Pull tight





12) Turn the hand over & neaten the centre fold if necessary.





13) Turning the hand back so that the palm faces you the knot should look like this with an inverted U or horseshoe shape visible.







14) The tails can be pulled downwards......







15) ....... or sideways












16) ......& the ends snipped as desired.
Here you can see that both bows have the flowers growing upwards out of the ground whether looking at the bows themselves or the tails.

15 comments:

Lorraine said...

hi huni this is a fab tutorial i always get so annoyed when my tails are one up and one down on pattened ribbon thanks you have helped me alot.I hope you are well and looking forward to the holidays xx

jackiescrafts said...

That is a fab tutorial Paula, thank you for sharing

Jackie x

Donalda said...

This is just awesome !!! I am always not buying all the pretty ribbons that are like that but now I can. Thanks dear. Big hugs

Deborah Frings said...

Paula - this is brilliant!! Since I found Becca's tutorial my bows are so much neater. I really like how you've adapted it to your fingers! Great tutorial!

I do hope that you don't have too much snow! We had quite a bit this afternoon, but it's much warmer now and most has melted. There might be a problem with ice in the morning though!!

Unknown said...

just saw this post...this is AWESOME!! I am so bad at doing bows, this is a life-saver!! Thanks for sharing:). My bows might actually look decent from here on out!;)

hugs!

Aquarius said...

Thanks so much for that detailed tutorial Paula - I always struggle using one sided or patterned ribbon for bows and usually chicken out and tie a knot instead. I'll certainly have a go at this.

GinaA said...

Oh Paula, what a brilliant blog. Off to get some ribbon to try out your instructions. Thank you.

Kath Stewart said...

brilliant tutorial paula...hugs kath xxx

xxxtglxxx said...

Oooh Paula - this is a cracking tutorial! :) I have never struggled with bows, but I have to admit, I dont use patterned ribbon because of the exact same reason you have done this :)

Fabulous - I will have to try this now! :)

Have a smashing week,

hugs

xxalisonxx

Lou Mac said...

A brilliant tutorial. So clever, and explained so well. :)

Elizabeth Allan said...

Genius Paula! Great picture tutorial and easy to follow steps!

Pink Dandelion said...

Ooh Paula what a smashing tutorial. I hate it when my tails won't go where I want them to. Thanks so much. Debs xx

Giselle said...

It has been a long time since someone posted on your tutorial but I just wanted to drop a line and say THANK YOU! I can finally tie the perfect bow!!!!!!


Best of luck!

Giselle said...

Thanks so much for your tutorial! I can finally tie the perfect bow!!!

Best of luck!
Giselle

Jessica Patterson said...

Briliant! I have always tied pretty bows, but patterns drove my OCD crazy! This is lovely! Thank you for sharing! I am going to share this everywhere!