How-to: Hand Stitched Felt Gift Bow

In my opinion, some of the best holiday gifts are the simplest–a gift card, a candle, a bottle of wine.  And, although I love giving these gifts I can’t help but feel that I’d have liked the gift to be a little bit more personalized, a little bit more handmade.  This beautiful hand stitched felt gift bow is an easy (and inexpensive) way to add a little homemade love to a simple gift.

This bow is very easy to make, requires only a little time, and can double as both a beautiful gift bow AND a beautiful flowery broach all winter long. Ready to make your own?

Supplies needed to make your own DIY felt gift bow:

• Felt (I used white)
• Contrasting Embroidery Thread
• Needle & Scissors
• Clear Tape
• Gift Bow Template printed on plain white paper
• Bar Pin
• Hot Glue Gun

Print out the template onto regular white computer paper.

As you will see, the template is very simple–just 4 different sizes of straight strips.  But, I made a template because it is important that the strips are cut to the correct length.

To get the most precise cut when working with felt, first cut out the pattern.  Then, tape the pattern directly to the felt you are using.  The tape will hold the pattern perfectly in place without the bubbles or bumps that pins would create.

When you have finished cutting out the pieces you will have 10 strips in 4 different sizes.

Next it’s time to add some hand-stitched love to this project using the simplest stitch of all–the running stitch.  The running stitch is just a straight stitch that runs down the entire length of each strip.  Leave about a stitch length between each stitch, but this does not need to be perfect.  I used 2 threads at a time while stitching.

After you have added a running stitch to each strip it is time get make this gift bow come to life.

Start with the BIGGEST strips.  Fold in a “figure 8,” as pictured below.

Then, take an extra scrap of felt and stitch through the middle of the “figure 8” making sure to catch both ends of the strip.

Continue this but taking each one of the 8 longer strips, working from longest to shortest, and making a figure 8 and then stitching through the center.  When you stitch them down begin to lay them out in a circular fashion.

As a final step, take the singular smallest strip.  Twist it around into a circle and stitch.  Then, place it in the center of your bow and stitch down through all of the layers.  This will hopefully hide all of your previous stitches.

Your gift bow is formed!  Now all that’s left is to trim off the extra felt from the base and glue a bar pin to the back!

It’s simple, it’s beautiful, and for us crafty-types, it completes a gift!

I hope you have a very beautiful Christmas!

Nancy

Nancy is the play-at-home mom of 3 little ones, ages 3 and under. When she gets a chance she blogs at dosmallthingswithlove.com about the intersection of motherhood and creativity. She has a special passion for embroidery, something she has been doing and experimenting with since she was a girl. A farm girl at heart, she now lives in Minneapolis and enjoys gardening, reading, stitching, traveling and painting. Most any day you can find her with a baby on her hip, barefoot, chasing her kids around the yard and eating beans fresh out of the garden.