My floristry and gardening blog: How to make a florist poly ribbon bow

What you will need:

Scissors- Any kind will do but the ones I'm using are florist scissors.
Roll of Poly Ribbon- Any colour will do, one I'm using is navy blue. Poly ribbon is available in most craft shops or florists.
Wire- If you are going to use a bow in an arrangement then you will need to have some wire at the ready. You can get wire from any florist shop or online mostly.

Large Poly ribbon bow:

Step 1:

I start off by grabbing my roll of poly ribbon and reel off a long enough length, this will be used for tieing our bow together. Once I've done this I cut off that long length.

Step 2:

Once you have cut off that length I then start to tear off a smaller thickness of poly ribbon from the top all the way down. Its good to tear the top bit and follow it all the way down by using your finger. Once you have done this you should have a smaller thickness length and a bigger bit. (The smaller thickness ribbon we will be using to tie our large poly ribbon bow, the bigger thickness ribbon we will use for our small wired bow.)

Step 3:

I then grab the roll of poly ribbon, reel a decent length off and then proceed to make my bow. To start the first loop you hold the end of the poly ribbon in your hand and make a loop so it crosses over the start of the ribbon like so:

Step 4:

I then follow this round and create another loop which ends up overlapping our first loop in the middle like so:

Step 5:

I then proceed to create another set of loops. This step is easier to do if you point the top of the bow towards you. create your first loop by folding it back on itself. Create the second loop by looping it forward so it crosses back over the middle again. the overall look should be like the last picture. You can either have two sets of loops or continue on as many times as you like. I have done three sets of loops so just carry on and make another set.

Step 6:

Once you have created your bow, proceed to pinching together the middle of the bow. This makes it easier to tie. Once you have pinched the middle of the bow with your free hand grab the smaller thickness bit of poly ribbon that you cut earlier and knot it around the bow to keep its shape. (I normally tie this by using my pinky on my free hand and my mouth as it is better to keep the bow pinched until it has been securely tied).

Finished product:

Once I have cut the reel of poly ribbon away from the bow, I cut the two tails of the bow at an angle to make the bow look extra special, You can have the tails as long or as short as you would like.

This is what the bow looks like from the front and the back once completed:

Small wired poly ribbon bow:

Step 1:

For this small wired bow instead of using a small thickness of poly ribbon to tie later on you will need to reel off enough length of wire instead. Cut off enough to go around the bow and to give you enough room to poke it into an arrangement or tie to something else once finished. (I approx cut around 20cm.)

Step 2:

Proceed to make your first and second loop with the bigger thickness of poly ribbon that you left cut earlier. If you wish to have more than one set of loops the proceed to add more but I normally find anymore than one set of loops makes the bow too big for the arrangement. (refer to step 5 of the larger bow if your stuck)

Step 3:

Once you have created your bow, pinch the middle of the bow together and proceed to tie it around with wire. When I use wire, I loop the wire around first and then basically push the bow towards me whilst holding the wire, this makes it easier to keep the shape of the bow and is easier to twist the wire.