Quick Cat Accessories Tutorial #1 - VersatiBow

As you know, I have a lot of time on my hands, so when I'm going out, I can MacGuyver up an outfit a week in advance. Many of you do not. So, I've decided I will make tutorials for accessories that take no more than ten minutes to make, and are super-cute and super-easy.

This first one is a bow. It can be used in your hair, with a hairpin or clip, or as a super-cute addition to any shirt, skirt or dress. Bows are one of my favourite things, and they're so customisable! So fun to make, too, that the three winners of my competition and one runner-up will receive one in a colour or print of their choice. Come on, guys - I only have four people in it so far, and the more people enter, the more contests I will have, and the cooler the prizes -  including pokemon and super mario charm earrings when I make them.

On with the tutorial.

Firstly, cut your material. Mine was about 40cm (15.7") long and about 8cm (3") across. However, since I'm using pinstripe, I measure it by the stripes and go "three stripes, four gaps". That's the real reason I like pinstripe. HOWEVER because of the versatility of this, you don't have to have it this way. Want a smaller bow? Use less material.

Fold it like this so it looks like one of those cause ribbons.

Cut a small piece of material. This was about 10cm (4") long and 6cm (1.5") across. I decided it was too wide, though, and made it just an inch across.

Wrap the strip around the middle of the AIDs ribbon (that's what it is now. an AIDs ribbon) and pin the ends of it together at the back. Do NOT pin the strip to the material at the back, or else you won't be able to put a pin or clip in it. My advice? At this point, don't get up, for anything. I got up to find a needle, came back, and it'd slipped and screwed up. So I had to redo it.

Sew the ends of the strips together at the back. Remember: doesn't have to be pretty, just has to be effective. I call this stitch a "Frankenstein stitch", and although not "pretty", it's goth. :3 Don't sew this to the front, though. Just the ends of the strip together.

Sew the front of the strip to the entire rest of the bow, but not the back of the strip. I also cut the ends of the ribbon-y bits to make it pretty, but you can cut it any way you want, or leave it.

Here it is, in my hair. :3 You can use a bobby pin or clip for this, I used a bobby pin - because, like most of you, I have 124465674527356867429856 of them laying about the place. You can also use a safety pin to clip them to your clothes or whatever.

I love this because it's so versatile. You can do whatever - attach it to a headband, put tulle on it and make it into a veil or fascinator (oh holy shit, i'm making another one and doing just that), make lots of tiny ones to put on an old skirt and make it new again, use it as a bow tie - you could MacGuyver this into anything - and all made in less than 10 minutes! I love these so much. I hope you enjoyed this, and if you make it, post a picture of it so I can see!

I'll post some other quick accessories from scraps of material and bits and bobs soon - keep an eye out.