Christmas Ribbon (Star Bow)

These make any gift (Christmas or otherwise) look extra special. They only take minutes to make, so why not add a personal touch to your gifts this year?

You will need:

Approximately 4.25m ribbon. I used 19mm wide ribbon for this bow. Use a smaller width ribbon for the smaller templates.

A stapler. You will need a heavy duty stapler for thicker fabric ribbons. If you don’t have a heavy duty stapler, use either fabric glue or a needle and thread to secure it.

Glue. Use fabric glue if you’re using fabric ribbon

Double sided tape

The star bow template

Set up your template

Download and print the star bow template. I’d recommend cutting it out and gluing it to some thick card. Paper or thin card will not be strong enough to support the star as you make it. Cut out the circle in the middle as well. You don’t need to be super neat here. Just make sure there is a whole wide enough for your ribbon to lay flat through.

Start making your star bow

Thread one end of your ribbon through the hole. Make sure you leave a long tail. You will need this to finish off you ribbon later.

Wrap the ribbon around point 1. Make sure that it lays flat across the back of your template.

Bring the ribbon along the back of the template to point 2, and wrap as before.

Continue wrapping, following the numbers in order. Keep checking the back to make sure the ribbon lays flat each time. It is worth taking the time to check the ribbon is flat each time. A twisted ribbon will affect the outcome of your bow.

When you get to point 8, wrap as before, then head back to 1 and continue to work through the numbers all the way to 8. You should have 2 wraps on each point.

Holding the end of the ribbon across the centre of the template, staple the ribbon together through the hole in the centre. It should capture all the ribbons and hold your star bow securely. If you are using thick ribbon, you may need a heavy duty stapler. If you don’t have a stapler large enough, you can secure the ribbon with some fabric glue, or a couple of stitches.

Carefully remove your template from the bow, one point at a time.

Loop the tail you left earlier over to create a loop. Glue this down securely.

Seperate out each point so that they sit neatly on top of each other.

Attach a small piece of double sided tape to the back, and add it to a gift. Why not create your own wrapping paper a well?