DIY: Oversized Festive Bows from the Thread Maker in London

“Bows bring pleasure,” points out Zara Peters, founder of Thread Maker. “They just have this way of generating every thing sense festive and exclusive.” We couldn’t agree much more. And what we significantly really like about these assertion bows is that they are handmade to order and come in a attractive vary of understated, pure fabrics.

If you’d like to make your individual, join us for a tutorial, courtesy of Zara, who took these photographs.

Thread Maker started in 2020 with “a very little lockdown marriage ceremony.” Zara—a everyday living-extended maker who started out her to start with craft club at the age six—made an outsized hair bow clip for her friend’s big working day. Additional commissions followed: some ended up massive, some ended up dainty: lots of were being designed from off-cuts of vintage materials Zara had sourced from antique markets and eBay. “The most significant I’ve produced so considerably made use of five meters of linen,” Zara claims. It was affixed to the back of a convertible vintage BMW: an option to the traditional “just married” string of tin cans.

This time very last calendar year, Zara’s bows morphed into festive decorations. “The concept is that these can be employed calendar year soon after year to adorn the major of your tree, your front doorway, or mantlepiece—anywhere in need of some festive cheer,” she describes.

Zara’s bows are out there to acquire solely via Straw London—an expertly curated homeware and gift shop on Columbia Highway. Alternatively, if you’re helpful with a stitching device, Zara has devised a approach for creating a handmade edition of her jumbo, cheer-bringing bows below.

Supplies and supplies

You will have to have:

• 1 meter of extra-wide linen
• A sewing machine
• An iron and scissors
• Needle and thread for hand ending
• 1 meter of bamboo lining
• Luxury velvet ribbon

Step 1:

Iron your fabric and minimize it into 3 pieces: one particular rectangle for the major physique of the bow (18″ x 35″ or 45cm x 90cm) one rectangle for the tails (47″ x 16″ or 120cm x 40cm), and 1 modest rectangle (6″ x 2″ or 15cm x 5cm) to sew all over the middle of the bow. These measurements are approximates only: you can participate in all-around with sizing dependent on what variety of bow you’re after—subtle or showstopper.

Step 2:

Begin with the major human body of the bow. Fold the material in half lengthways and sew the edges together. This piece will be turned inside out, so make sure you sew the “right side” of the material alongside one another. (I always push the seams open up with an iron immediately after each and every stage, as this keeps the edges neat and tidy.)

Move 3:

Transform the fabric within out so the “right side” is showing and insert the bamboo lining, which need to be minimize to the very same proportions as the principal entire body of the bow. (The lining does not have to have to be stitched in position, as it will maintain its situation the moment the bow is gathered with each other.)

Phase 4:

With the lining in area, fold the major system of the bow in 50 percent once more widthwise (“right sides” jointly) and sew the conclude with each other again. (Try to remember to press your seams yet again.) Flip the fabric inside of out a person final time and the primary overall body of your bow is prepared. Set aside.