Horse Show Hair Bows – For Lead Line and Short Stirrup

You can make beautiful hair bows for your favorite little girl to wear to the next horse show quickly and easily with Bowdabra. Fashions and styles change on the Horse show circuit just as they do with all fashion. For the lead line and short stirrup set, the current trend is to wear two braids and accent them with beautiful bows.  It’s so easy you will want to make a Horse show hair bow in all colors!

These sets of hair bows an be quite pricey at over $30 a set. You can make a whole wardrobe of hair bows for pennies with Bowdabra.

Supplies:

For each hair bow you will need:

22-inches 1 ½” Satin ribbon in choice of color

18 ½-inches 7/8” wide grosgrain ribbon in coordinating color

17 ½-inches 5/8” wide sheer ribbon in coordinating color

18” Bowdabra bow wire

1 ½” French barrette or crocodile clip. The French barrette stays on better when riding

Bauble, rhinestone, or cabochon

Bowdabra Mini Bow maker with ruler

Glue dots or hot glue gun and glue sticks

Scissors

Ruler

Lighter or clear nail polish

Directions:

1. Measure and cut the lengths of ribbon for your hair bow. Fold the ends in half and cut at an angle to dovetail. Seal the ends by running through a lighter or coating with clear nail polish. Repeat this with each length of ribbon.

2. Cut an 18” length of Bowdabra Bow wire, fold in half and insert into the bow maker. You will have a loop at one end and two pieces of wire at the other. Fold the wires under to keep it out of the way while you are working.

3. Fold the 22-inch piece of ribbon in half to find the center, pinch upwards and insert into the bow maker. Make sure both sides are even.

4. Make a loop to the 1 ½” line pinching up as you insert it into the bow maker. Pull the tail downwards.

5. Make a matching loop with the other side of the ribbon.

6. Make the second bow. Fold the second length of ribbon in half to find the center and insert into the bow maker pinching upwards as you did the first bow.

7. Use each side of the ribbon to make a loop and matching loop to make the second bow. Make sure your bow is just a bit smaller than the first one. Scrunch down with the wand.

8. Repeat for a third bow with the smallest piece of ribbon like you did with the other two bows. Scrunch down with the wand. Insert the two loose wire ends through the loop, and while the bow is still in the bow maker, hold down and pull tight. Remove from the bow maker and tie a knot in the back.

9. Repeat the entire process again for a second hair bow.

10. Attach a cabochon, rhinestone or other bauble to the front center of the stacked bows with a glue gun or glue dots.

11. To attach the barrette or crocodile clip, use the excess wire to loop through the French barrette and tie adding some glue dots or hot glue if desired. Clip any excess wire.

The barrettes flow nicely with the tails overlapping each other to accentuate each ribbon texture and color. Vary the color and ribbon styles. If you are using print on one side ribbon you will have to fold and twist as you make the bows.

Come back and visit Bowdabra for more horse show hair bow tutorials soon!

Horse show hair bow

Horse show hair bow

Horse show hair bow

Happy trails from Crystal at make it easy crafts and Bowdabra!

Do you have the Bowdabra to make these wonderful bows?

Hair Bow Tool and Ruler Kit for the Mini Bowdabra® – BOW2200