Korker Hair Bows are one of my favorite Boutique Hair Bows and among the most expensive, with Gymboree selling them for around $5 each to boutiques selling them for as much as $10 each. Making your own Korker Hair Bow is fairly easy, and is much less expensive.
To make your own Korker Hair Bows you will need ¼ inch or 5/16 inch dowel rods, wooden clothespins, 100 % 3/8 inch wide polyester ribbon it can be grosgrain, satin, jacquard, or organza, string or elastic, glue gun, and Fray Check or clear nail polish.
Preparing Your Korker Ribbon
The first step in making your Korker Hair Bow is to prepare your Korker Ribbon. For this you will need your dowel rods, which can be purchased at any local Hardware Store. When you purchase dowel rods, they are usually long and you will need them to be somewhere between fifteen and seventeen inches long, so you can either have someone at the store cut it for you or you can cut it yourself.
The first thing you will want to do is to preheat your oven to 275 degrees. Once you have done that you will need to place your ribbon at the top of the dowel rod, and secure it tightly using a clothespin, after the ribbon is secure you will begin twisting the ribbon tightly around the dowel rod. I have heard many people say that putting the end of the dowel rod into a drill tip, and using the drill to twist the ribbon is easier, but I am not extremely coordinated so I usually wrap the ribbon by hand. Once you get to the end of the dowel rod you will want to cut the ribbon and secure the end of the ribbon to the dowel rod with a second clothespin.
After you have finished wrapping the ribbon around your dowel rods you will be ready to place your ribbon into the oven. You can do this one of two ways, you can line your oven rack with aluminum foil and place your dowel rods directly onto the oven rack or you can place the dowel rods on cookie sheets lined with aluminum foil. However you choose to place your dowel rods into the oven, you will want to leave them in the oven for about twenty-five minutes.
To test your ribbon to see if it is ready you will gently remove the clothespins from one dowel rod, and gently slide the ribbon off, if the curls are tight and even they are done, if they are too lose put them back in for a few more minutes.
Making your Korker Bow
Once you have finished preparing your Korker ribbon you will want to cut it into two and a half inch sections, you can cut it using scissors or a rotary cutter and cutting mat. Depending on what size bow you want and how full you want it to be you will want twenty to thirty-five pieces of cut ribbon. Once you have the Korker ribbon cut you will want to apply either Fray Check or clear nail polish to the ends to keep them from fraying.
Now you will want to take a cut a piece of twelve inch elastic or string, once you have it cut you will want to lay it out straight on a flat, even surface. Once the string is laid out you will want to place your pile of Korker ribbon on top of the bow with the string being placed directly in the middle of the cut ribbon. Next you will pull the string up tight, and tie it into a knot around the ribbons, be sure to double knot your string, for a more secure knot you can also use a bit of hot glue to hold the ribbons tightly together. After you have tied your string tightly around the ribbons, turn your bow over, and check to make sure all ribbons are lined up evenly, making any adjustments that are necessary. If you are using hot glue to hold your knot, make sure to line your ribbons up before applying the hot glue.
Now all you have to do is attach your bow to a barrette, alligator clip, headband, or ponytail holder and you are done!
