I am addicted to bows. Particularly bows from Gymboree. I love them in all their corkscrew glory. The only problem is that they have barrettes and Kate doesn’t have quite enough hair for them. No worries. I just convert them over to alligator clips.
First I use this random tool that Michael found for me out in the garage.
I use it to cut away the plastic barrette part. You have to be careful while you’re cutting away the pastic that you don’t cut through the ribbon or any of the thread connecting the ribbons. You have to kind of scootch the ribbon to the side, cut away one side and then scootch it back over to cut out the other side.
Then you have to work the piece of plastic around until you can get it out. Finally you are left with only the ribbons which should have a small piece of ribbon holding them together.
Thread a piece of ribbon through the loop and then slide your alligator clip through it.
Next you just put some glue on the ribbon and fold it over. I use felt glue, but I’m sure you could use pretty much anything. The ribbon will glue to itself through the holes in the alligator clip.
Then you do the other side.
I think the ribbon gives the bow a nice finished look, plus it seems to help grip Kate’s fine baby hair. And here’s the finished bow!
Too bad I ran out of alligator clips before I could do the second bow. Raptor was not pleased when she only got to wear one bow. She kept demanding “Two! Two!” Guess we’ll be making a trip over to Sally’s in the near future to buy some more. 🙂