Pumpkin Hair Bow

This is one of the fall hair bows I made for the girls in my life.  I'm a little late in posting, but since it's almost Thanksgiving, it's really perfect timing, if you think about it! 

So let's get started, shall we?

You'll Need:
12 pieces of 3/8" Curled Orange Crossgrain Ribbon 
2 pieces of 3/8" Curled Green Crossgrain Ribbon
1"x 1" piece of brown satin ribbon
Heavy Duty Needle
Thread
Scissors
Ruler

Lighter or Fray Away
Hot Glue Gun, Glue
Alligator or French Barrette Clip

To start, you'll need to curl your crossgrain ribbon.  If you've never done this before, it's simple enough, just follow these easy instructions.

Once your ribbon is curled, you will want to take them off the dowel rods and sit aside for them to be cut down.

With your ruler or cutting mat, measure your ribbon down into 3" pieces. Cut.
You will need approximately 12-15, 3" pieces/bow.

Once all your pieces are cut, heat seal your ends. This is just quickly running your lit lighter across the ends of your ribbon.  Make sure when you do this, you're doing it in a sweeping type motion, so you don't catch your ribbon on fire.

Now it's time to thread your needle.  Every bow designer is different, but I like to thread my needle and (triple) knot the end when making my korker bows.  I just always make sure to leave ample room to sew the bow together.  I typically leave about 18" hang, which will leave me with plenty of thread to swipe the needle through the center of the "pumpkin" several times for maximum hold.

Let's start building the pumpkin now.  Once your needle and thread is prepared, you will measure the true center of each piece of ribbon and where the center point is, that is where your needle will go.  You can see a full "how to" here. 

Place the middle (center) of your ribbon directly down into the needle.  

DO NOT MOVE, PULL, OR DO ANYTHING WITH THIS HAND UNTIL YOU ARE FINISHED ADDING ALL THE PIECES OF THE PUMPKIN!

As you are adding pieces to your needle (again, do not pull the needle through any of the pieces just yet), you will want to stagger the pieces as you go.  Think of it as a clock.  Start at 12, make your way to 1, then 2, then 3, etc., as you add them to your needle.

You will have to cinch the pieces down as you go, as your needle is only so big.  It sounds much harder than it is, trust me.  Oh and don't worry about hurting the ribbon.  My 2 year old tugs at hers all the time and is still in perfect condition.

Okay, so once all your pieces are positioned/staggered the way you want them, add your 2 green pieces in a cross fashion across the top.  These will be your leafy steams.

Now it's time to feed the needle all the way through the layers.

With your opposite sewing hand, pinch the center together and hold it taut.  Feed the needle all the way through, keeping the center pinched, so the ribbon doesn't move around.  To feed it all the way through, you may want/need a hard surface for this. The ribbon is quite strong once you get so many layers.

Now you just continue to feed the needle through the front and back as you normally would when sewing.  I like to criss-cross the stitching as I go.  Once you are close to the end of your thread, make sure the needle is going through the back side of your bow.  This is where you will snip the thread from the needle and triple knot it.

Now for the stem.  Take 1, 1"x1" piece of brown satin ribbon and fold it in half (Sealing with glue), then in half again to create the perfect "Stem".

With a small dab of hot glue, insert the glue into the center of your bow between the green leafy steams, and place your brown stem in place.

There you have it...The most adorable pumpkin bow you'll find this side of town!