A beautiful bow can make a huge difference in the aesthetics of your entire wreath. Learn how to make a whimsical Christmas bow to make all your Christmas wreath designs stand apart from the crowd!
With the first 2.5” ribbon, measure (2) 8” tails and (3) 6.5” loops. One side of this layer will have two loops, and the other side will have two tails. Use a pipe cleaner wrapped around the middle to hold your ribbon in place as you work on the next layer.
Take the second 2.5” ribbon and repeat the process. The tails for this layer will be shorter (7.5”), and the loops need to be slightly smaller (6”). Stack this layer on top of the previous layer with the loop-side matching up to the tail side of the previous layer.
With the third 2.5” ribbon, make (2) 6” tails with (3) 5.5” loops. As you did with the previous layer, stack this layer on top of your other layers, putting the loop-heavy side on top of the tail-heavy side from the previous layers.
Now, grab the first 1.5” ribbon and follow the same process, making the tails 5” and the loops 4.75”. Use a separate pipe cleaner to hold this layer in place.
Take the last 1.5” ribbon to make your final layer. This layer will have 4 loops, with the first set of loops measuring 3” and the second set (behind the first set) measuring 4” so you can see them. The tails are 4". Add this layer on top of the other 1.5” ribbon in the second pipe cleaner.
It's time to combine the two pipe cleaner sets together to create one bow.You want all the pipe cleaners to be sticking out on the sides of the ribbon bunches. The set with the 1.5” ribbons goes on top of the set that holds the 2.5” ribbons. Wrap the pipe cleaner from the top layer around the entire bow and twist the ends to secure it in place. Then twist one top pipe cleaner with one bottom pipe cleaner and repeat with the other top and bottom pipe cleaner.
Take a third pipe cleaner and wrap it around each twisted pipe cleaner pair a couple of times down close to the bow.Use bolt cutters to trim the twisted pipe cleaner pairs shorter and tuck the ends into the bottom of the bow.
Now it’s time to spread out all the layers of loops and tails and arrange them. Beginning with the bottom layer, pull the tails and loops out, so they spread out, and you can see each layer.When you reach the top layer, pull one of the loops up toward the ceiling to designate a center bow and fluff everything out before trimming the ends in a dovetail shape.