A store-bought greenery wreath costs twenty dollars and looks like a store-bought greenery wreath. Add a handmade bow and it stops looking bought. That is the whole trick, and it takes about five minutes once you have made two or three.
Julie from Julie's Wreath Boutique makes two bows here: a straightforward six-loop bow, then a layered version that stacks two ribbons for something fuller. Both are the same move repeated over and over.
Buy wired ribbon, and buy the good stuff
Wired ribbon has a thin wire running down each edge. That wire is what lets a loop hold its shape instead of flopping, so a bow made from unwired ribbon will never look like the one in the photo no matter how carefully you fold it.
Two and a half inches is the width that works for most wreaths. Cheap ribbon fights you: it creases where you want a curve, and the wire kinks instead of bending. If your bows keep coming out sad, blame the ribbon before you blame your hands.
The grid on your mat is a ruler
Every loop in a good bow matches its opposite number, and eyeballing that is harder than it sounds. Lay the ribbon across a gridded cutting mat and measure. Eight inches of ribbon makes a four-inch loop. Ten inches makes a five-inch loop for the outer layer.
You do not need a bow maker. It holds the loops for you while you work, which is genuinely nice, but two hands and a mat get the job done.
Why you twist between every loop
Most ribbon has a right side and a wrong side. Without a twist at the centre, every second loop shows you the back of the ribbon. One half-twist each time you come back to the middle keeps the good face pointing out the whole way round. It feels fussy for the first two loops and then goes automatic.
Cut the tails long
Twelve inches per tail, minimum. You can always shorten a tail once the bow is on the wreath and you can see how it hangs. You cannot add ribbon back. Cut the ends at an angle or into a V so they do not fray straight across.
Fixing a lopsided bow
Do not take it apart. Pull each loop out one at a time, turn it so it faces a different direction than its neighbour, and push the whole thing wider than looks right. Bows compress when you attach them. A bow that looks slightly overdone on the table looks correct on a door.
Once the bow is made you still have to attach it and dress the rest of the ring. How to make a wreath picks up from there.
How big the bow should be for your wreath
Size the bow to the wreath, not the door. A good rule is a bow about a third of the wreath's outside diameter. A 22 inch wreath wants a bow around 7 to 8 inches across, which is the six-loop version in the photos. A 30 inch front-door wreath needs the layered bow or 3 inch ribbon, or it looks like a hair clip. On a small 14 inch kitchen wreath, drop to 1.5 inch ribbon and 6 inch loops.
Plan on 3 to 4 yards of ribbon for a single bow with tails, and 5 to 6 yards for the layered one. Running short halfway through is the most common way a bow ends up with stubby tails.
Where to put it, and how to attach it
Bottom centre is the classic spot and suits a round greenery wreath. Upper left or lower right, sitting at roughly the four or eight o'clock position, looks more deliberate on a wreath with a cluster of ornaments or pine cones, because the bow then balances the decoration instead of competing with it.
Use the tail ends of the centre wire, or a fresh 12 inch piece of floral wire, and push it straight through the wreath frame. Twist it tight at the back and tuck the ends into the greenery so they cannot scratch the door. Then pull the tails down and drape them over the ring rather than letting them hang straight - a tail that follows the curve reads as part of the wreath.
Keeping bows for next Christmas
Take the bow off before the wreath goes out. Wired ribbon holds its shape in storage if you stuff each loop with a twist of tissue paper and keep it in a box rather than a bag. Next December, steam any crushed loops over a kettle for a few seconds and reshape them with your fingers. A good bow lasts five or six seasons this way, which is the best argument for buying the better ribbon in the first place.
