How to Tie a Bow

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This article was co-written by Amy Guerrero. Amy Guerrero is an arts and crafts expert and owner of Sunshine Craft Co., a craft store in Phoenix, Arizona. Amy specializes in macrame arts, homemade crafts, and yarn teaching. She conducts in-person and online workshops in parallel with the development of a range of craft kits for home use. Amy holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from the University of Philadelphia. She was a graphic designer before starting her career. Sunshine Craft Co. is a creative company that provides workshops, tools and resources for craft projects to inspire creativity in the community.

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The bow will give the gift an elegant, proportionate and eye-catching look. People can use bows as accessories for clothes, or to decorate weddings and other important events. Learn how to tie a basic bow, layered bow, or flower bow.

Table of Contents

Basic bow ties

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Start with a knotted ribbon. The basic bow tie technique will remain the same no matter what type of ribbon you use or for what purpose. You just need a ribbon with two ends coming from the knot in the middle.

If you want to tie a bow on the gift wrap, thread the ribbon underneath the gift box, pull the two ends up and tie the knot so that the two ends are the same length. Now you have a left branch and a right branch to tie the bow. ^{[1] X Research Source}
You can tie a bow from a ribbon without a gift box. Tie a knot in the center of the rope so that the left and right branches are the same length.

Create a rabbit ear on the left branch of the ribbon. Use your index finger and thumb to grab the left branch to form a bunny ear. If you’re using ribbon, don’t let it get twisted.

Create a second bunny ear. ^{[2] X Research Source} This time you will bring the right branch around below the left rabbit ear. Drag it over to get a second notch of the same size. Use the same technique as when tying shoelaces. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Bow tie. Pull the rabbit ears across each other to tie a knot in the center. Make sure the rabbit ears are the same size and the ends of the wire are the same length. Now the bow is complete.

Layered bow ties

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Start with a long ribbon. For this style of bow tie, you need a ribbon about 30 cm long. Leave the rope intact and do not knot.

Create a bunny ear near the left end of the bow. Start at a position about 8 cm from the end of the wire and create a rabbit ear. Hold in place with index finger and thumb. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Line up the right branch on top of the bunny ear you’re holding to form the second bunny ear. The ribbon now looks like an inverted “S” with a tail at the ends. Hold the rabbit ears so they don’t pop out. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

Continue shaping the rabbit ears. Shape the rabbit ears on the rest of the string so that you have a stack of rabbit ears with two equal lengths of wire.

Waist in the middle. Using a thin string, tie the rabbit ears in the center, dividing them into two parts. You now have a bunch of bunny ears on the left and a bunch on the right at the waist.

Make the bunny ears bulge. Separate each rabbit ear and make it bulge so that the waistline is not visible. Use scissors to trim the ends of the string into an inverted “v” shape to complete the bow. ^{[6] X Research Source}

Flower bow

Wrap the ribbon around your hand. Hold one end of the rope on the palm of your hand with your thumb, and continue wrapping it all the way to the end. Each loop wrapped around the hand should rest neatly on the previous loop.

Slide the ribbon loops out of your hand and fold them in half. Be careful not to let the loops come apart when you slide them out of your hand.

Cut the V-groove to tie the rope. Fold the loop in half and hold it in one hand. With the other hand, hold the scissors and cut off an angle on either side of the central crease. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

Remember to cut through all layers of ribbon. Hold the scissors firmly to make sure the cut goes straight and no layers are missed.
Don’t cut the two corners too close to the center of the ribbon.

Advice

Make sure the two branches of the ribbon are the same length before you start tying the bow.
Don’t worry and adjust the bow if the ribbon is superfluous. You just need to cut off the excess!

Steps

Basic bow ties

Layered bow ties

Flower bow

Advice

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