DIY Leather Bows

I always love making new hair accessories for my daughter. These DIY Leather Bows look chic and are totally affordable. Plus, it helps that they are easy to make using the Cricut Explore machine!

For these bows, you'll need some faux leather. This is the first time I've ever used Cricut Pebbled Faux Leather, and I'm positive this won't be the last! It looks and feels like real textured leather, but doesn't cost as much! It's also not as thick as most faux leathers out there, so you don't need to switch to a deep-cut blade.

If you've got Design Space, you can create your own leather bows with this bow design. Place the leather sheet on a StandardGrip cutting mat, and turn the dial to the "Custom" setting. I selected the Light Leather setting. It cuts the design three times, so you're sure to get a clean cut.

Lay the pieces out on your work space. They should look like the image above. This is also a great time to heat up that glue gun!

To assemble the bow, turn the curvy piece so it's face down. Add a line of glue along each end, then fold them into the center (top image). Hot glue works fine for this, but it needs to go on thin. After a few bows, I seemed to have much better success using E6000.

Add a line of glue to the back of the bow, and place it seam-side down and centered on the back piece (with the pointed sides) of leather. Hold the pieces together with a clothespin and let the glue dry.

Once the glue has set, it's time to finish assembling the bow. Fold the bow in half, right sides together, then fold the top and bottom half back to create the "bow" shape. Hold together with your fingers and add a bit of glue in the back to keep the folds in place for the next few steps.

Turn the bow over, and add a drop of glue to the center. Place the leather band piece over the glue face-up. Let it set for a minute, then wrap it around the center of the bow one time.

If you want to attach the bow to an alligator clip, add a drop of glue to the band and hold the clip in place for a minute. Then open the clip and pull the leather band through and wrap it around the center of the bow one more time.

Glue the end of the leather band in place and let the glue dry. Now your bow is ready to wear!

By adjusting the size of the bow design in Design Space, you can create bows of any size! They do make beautiful hair clips, but you can also attach them to headbands, glue them your fashion accessories, or anything you can imagine adding a bow to!

What do you think? Will you be making some DIY leather bows for yourself and the girls in your life sometime soon?

I'm excited to join 22 other super talented bloggers for the Fall Cricut Challenge. Check out what these talented ladies created below and enter to win a HUGE box of supplies from Cricut!

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