Cottage Frameworks: Copycat Gymboree Hair Curlies

Hello! It is been a while since my last post. I have been having bad luck with my pictures lately, and nothing is quite blog worthy. I've been playing around with the manual settings on my camera and my pictures have been either too dark or over-exposed-- and of course just as I am finishing up a project the battery in my camera dies or I realize that my CF Card is not in my camera. Ugh! And as you all know first hand May is a crazy, busy month, with end of school programs, spring soccer and baseball games finishing up, it feels like I haven't had time to breath. But enough whining, I SO admire all of you who can balance crazy schedules and blog at the same time! Blogging is definitely not easy!

On to this week's tutorial... I finished up several pairs of these hair bows the other day and wanted to share them with you!! One of my favorite stores to shop for my kids is Gymboree, I LOVE their matching accessories!! I can't always afford to buy them however so I decided to make a few sets of copycat bows myself. I love how they turned out and they are SO Easy and inexpensive!

Supplies:

2 (or more) spools of 1/4 in Grosgrain Ribbon (also from Joanns)
8 3/8 in Dowels (found mine in a 10-12 pack at Joanns for $1)
Clothespins
2 Hair barrettes($ store) or alligator clips
Glue gun - or heavy duty craft glue
FrayCheck or other Anti-Fray product

Start by spinning your ribbon (from the spool) around the top of a dowel - hold in place using a clothespin. It should look like this:

Keep wrapping ribbon around your dowel until you reach the bottom. Use another clothespin to secure the ribbon at the bottom and cut.

Repeat this process 7 more times on other dowels--using two or more different colors. If using more colors just make sure you have an even amount so that your bows match. Spritz dowels with water. Place dowels on a foil lined cookie sheet, and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 225 degrees.

Once baked the ribbons will stay in a ringlet form. Remove from dowels and trim ends.

Cut each length into 4 equal pieces. Apply FrayCheck to ends.

You will need use 16 pieces for each bow--or 8 of each color. You will also need a two inch extra piece of ribbon to tie the ribbons together in the center. Stack the ribbons together and smooth flat in the middle of each ribbon --until all together.

Use your extra ribbon piece to tie together the centers of all ribbons. It should look like this:

Use your hot glue gun to glue inside of knot to a hair barette, and wrap excess around the barrette. Also secure with hot glue-- and for extra security you could also stitch these end pieces together with a needle and thread.