DIY Velveteen Bow Tree Topper Tutorial

Our tree has been decorated for a couple weeks now and I haven't put a tree topper on it yet because I don't have one.  I didn't want to spend any money so I did the best thing I could do was to diy own!  I saw this Christmas tree from the talented Kristen from The Hunted Interior and loved everything about it.  I've had this picture in my mind for a while now and thought of how I could incorporate this into my Christmas tree.  A couple nights ago at 10 p.m. when I getting ready for bed, I thought a big velvet bow would be the perfect touch to our Christmas tree.  With this simple and easy tutorial you'll be able to create this stylish tree topper bow for your sophisticated looking tree, wreath, garland, or make lots of bows to scatter them throughout your Christmas decor.  I love how it turned out!

It's funny I find most of my inspiration when I'm exhausted and should be going to bed.  I remember I had some royal blue velvet I've been holding on for a couple years when I used it for an assignment in my interior design class in college.  I almost threw it away a couple of times but I knew one day I'd be able to use it for something, and I'm so glad I did!  One thing you have to remember about me is I'm a really quirky person.  I find creative inspiration when its really late at night when I'm really tired and there's awful lighting.  I also feel a need to do them right then and there so I haven't done any prep work, so you can see chaos in the background.  So my tutorials never look that great, but they're informative!  Anyway, here is how I made that big velvet bow.

-a piece of velvet or other thick fabric that measures 6" x 24"

-glue gun and glue sticks

-a 6"x 3" piece of coordinating fabric

-scissors

And that's it! 

This is how my velvet fabric looks like. You can tell I used some of it in a different project.  The first step is to fold the fabric in half.  Then fold it again in half.   So it ends up looking like this.

On my fabric, you can see I have the the raw edge showing.  To cover this up I folded the edge and hot glued the edge of it and press the edge of the other half down on top of it, like this. 

To make it look like this.

The next step is to secure the top and bottom of the piece.  The fabric in these two places were fraying, to prevent from more fraying, I hot glue a line at the top and bottom.  Make sure the edges align up.

The fabric should be glued on all three sides: top, bottom, and the one (used to be open side).

The next step is to create the bow effect.  Grab the very center of the fabric and with your fingers to squeeze it together.  Then take the top and bottom and fold them up towards the center part, like this: 

Then hot glue the middle part so that the middle is secure with the top and bottom.

Then take a piece of fabric, I used this gold and ivory fabric from on old dress that's too small for me. I also used this same fabric in the diy baby headbands I made for Amelia.    

Because of the fabric I used, which is a lighter and really stretchy, I cut a 3" x 24" strip.  I did this so it would would support and cover the middle part of the bow better.

I started to wrap the ivory and gold stripe fabric around the middle, making sure it was snug around the bow.

I then hot glued the end of the fabric to the back.  Then took a small strip of fabric and tied it through the middle part to create a hook so I can anchor the bow on the top of the tree.

This hook is going to allow me to secure it to the top of the tree.

And viola!  You're done!  Here is how it turned out.

Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial.  You could also make a bunch of these and put them all over your tree, wreaths, garlands, and other Christmas decor!  Thanks for visiting!  Now I need to go wrap some presents!