How to Make Puffy Hairbow Barrettes

Choose fabric that matches a particular outfit, or choose a neutral that matches any outfit.

When you want a puffy hair bow, ribbon just doesn’t do. Making a bow out of fabric allows you to stuff it with a bit of pillow filling, creating a puffy bow that holds its shape. Even though you are working with fabric, you don’t need a needle and thread to make this bow. Since the seams of the bow will not experience much stress, you can hot glue to hold them together.

Things You'll Need

• 2 pieces of fabric, 5-by-3-inch
• 1 piece of fabric, 1-by-1-inch
• Hot glue gun
• Pillow filling (cotton batting), 1 ounce
• Metal barrette

Instructions

1. Lay one of the 5-by-3-inch pieces of fabric right-side up on a flat surface.

2. Place the nozzle of a hot glue gun 1/4-inch down from the edge of the fabric, and squeeze hot glue along the entire perimeter, leaving a 2-inch unglued gap along the top edge.

3. Pick up the other piece of 5-by-3-inch fabric and lay it right-side down on top of the first piece of fabric. Align the edges of the two pieces of fabric and press them together. This is the bow. Set it aside while the hot glue dries.

4. Lay the piece of 1-by-1-inch fabric right-side down on a flat surface. Squeeze a thick line of hot glue down the center of the fabric, edge to edge. Fold two side edges of the fabric, so they meet in the middle of the fabric, at the line of glue. Press the two edges into the hot glue. This is the center strip of the bow. Set it aside while the glue dries.

5. Pick up the bow and turn it right-side out through the 2-inch unglued gap along the top edge.

6. Stuff 1 ounce of pillow filling into the bow. Spread the filling evenly throughout the bow, using your fingers to push the filling into the four corners. Stuff the bow so it is fluffy, but not firm. If you stuff it to firmly, you will not be able to pinch the center properly.

7. Fold in the raw fabric edges along the 2-inch gap, and hot glue the gap closed.

8. Pinch the center of the top and bottom edges of the bow together so it looks like a bowtie. Loosen your grip on the bow, just enough to squeeze a dot of hot glue into the folds of the fabric at the pinched center.

9. Pinch the center firmly for 20 seconds while the hot glue sets.

10. Squeeze a dot of hot glue on top of the center of the bow. Press one of the short ends of the center strip into the hot glue. Wrap the center strip around the bow’s center, and hot glue the loose short end over the glued-down end.

11. Squeeze a line of hot glue along the top of a metal barrette. Press the barrette onto the back of the bow and hold in place 20 seconds while the glue sets. Allow the glue to dry completely before wearing the barrette.