Gift bows are something I never have on hand. NEVER. The last time it was 11 PM and I needed a gift bow I found a perfect tutorial for making gift bows on Twig & Thistle. It worked so well I knew I wanted share it here. :D

While the measurements I provide here will make standard size gift bows, you can also easily scale these so they're as large or as big as you want! Just make sure to use a stiffer paper or felt for the best results.

Step 1: What You'll Need:

paper or craft felt
scissors, a rotary cutter and/or an x-acto knife
a ruler
a glue gun + sticks
stapler (optional but a time saver!)

I'm using pages from magazines and sheets of craft felt. Regular printer paper, wrapping paper and construction paper work great, too. Cardstock can be a little tricker to work with. :)

Step 2: Cut Strips Out of Your Chosen Material

The sizes of these strips can vary greatly - skinnier and shorter strips give tiny bows, longer and thicker strips give bigger bows!

These are the strips you'll need:

3 long strips - mine were 3/4 inch x 11 inches
3 medium strips- mine were 3/4 inch x 10 inches
2 short strips - mine were 3/4 inch x 9 inches
3/4 - 1 inch wide strip for the middle of the bow - length will vary

The measurements above will give you the typical sized bow you'd buy in a store - 4-5 inches across.

Once you've made a few of these, you should be able to size them up and down pretty easy! The process makes much more sense once you've made one or two.

Step 3: Loop 'em

Now you'll want to loop the ends of each strip and have them meet in the middle. Just play around with one of the longest ones until it looks right, and then make the other long strips strips match that one. Do the same for the medium and short strips - each group of strips should look similar!

For paper, it's super easy to staple them! It's a nice shortcut. For felt, you'll want to stick them together using a glue gun.