Make Hair Bows With a Free SVG and Template

How to make easy hair bows

Having a hair bow template is so useful. Bows are adorable on little girls and are perfect for any occasion. Making your own hair bows means that you get to choose how they look. That means that depending on the colors you use, you can even customize them to fit a holiday theme! Crafting your own hair bows saves you money compared to buying them at a boutique and you still end up with a cute hair accessory! Plus making your own bows is a really easy and satisfying DIY project.

This post has a free SVG and PDF template, as well as a “how to, step by step” tutorial so you can make your own gorgeous bows by hand or with a Cricut cut machine. Since these are no sew bows, anyone can make them and they come together very fast.

three stacked hair bows made with glitter canvas spread out and displayed with silk peonies.

*This post may contain affiliate links.

Get the Files Here

Download Hair bows

Click on the pink button above to download the hair bow files for free.

*These files are for personal and commercial (up to 50 times) use only.

If you’re interested in more faux leather projects, check out these faux leather earrings, or this wallet pattern.

There are three bow sizes. Small, medium and large. The small measures about two and a half inches wide, the medium about three and a half inches and the large about four and a half inches.

Christmas themed stacked hair bows in three sizes. small, medium and large. — Christmas colors to add some festivity 😉

Supplies for Stacked Hair Bow

Faux leather, glitter canvas, or felt.
Hot glue gun
Hot glue
Alligator clips
Cut machine OR Scissors
Clips or fabric marker (PDF version only)

Don’t forget the free SVG and template! (Listed above.)

Also, if you are looking for more hair accessories, check out this free scrunchie sewing pattern or these fun butterfly hair bows!

Here is a video tutorial to make these hair clips with in case videos are more your thing.

SVG Cutting Instructions

Load the bow SVG into your cut machine software. select the material type and send it to cut.

cut settings displayed in cricut design space. — Cut settings I used for faux leather.

Load the bow material onto your cutting mat and feed it into the machine. Cut the SVG.

Remember that if you are using faux leather, put the top (pretty) side face down on the mat and mirror the image in the cut machine software.

cutting mat with material on it being loaded into a cut machine.

Pull the bow pieces off the mat and they are ready to assemble.

pulling the cut out hair bow pieces off of the cutting mat.

PDF Cutting Instructions

Print the PDF and cut out the pattern. Once the bow pattern is cut you can pin it to the bow material and cut it out. If you are using faux leather make sure to use clips, not pins. Pins will leave permanent holes in your faux leather.

Pattern clipped to the material to be cut out.

Another method you can use is to the trace hair bow pattern onto the backside of the material with a fabric pen. You will then be able to cut it out using the outline made with the fabric pen. I use a disappearing fabric ink so that if there are any markings left over, they won’t stick around.

tracing the bow pattern onto the material using a fabric pen.

Showing the outline of the traced hair bow pattern on the material.

Assembling the Hair Bow

Take the bottom bow piece and put some hot glue on the middle of the back side.

putting hot glue in the middle section of the bottom bow piece.

Fold both sides over so the ends meet in the middle sitting in the hot glue (not overlapping.) Let it cool down.

one side of the bow folded to the middle of the bottom bow piece.

both sides of the bottom bow piece folded to meet in the center of the bottom bow piece.

Repeat with the top bow piece.

Top bow piece with both sides folded to the center with hot glue holding them in place.

Place a bit of hot glue on the center of the bottom bow piece front side.

Tip: Hot glue needs a rough or porous surface to grab onto and sometimes faux leather can be a bit too smooth for the hot glue to create a strong bond. Using a bit of sand paper or scissors to rough up the surface will help the bond be stronger.

placing glue in the front side center of the bottom bow piece.

Set the top bow piece directly on top of that glue. Your bow pieces will now be stacked and glued together.

Top bow piece stacked on top of the bottom bow piece, glued together.

Finishing the Bow

Take the center tab and set it flush with the top of the backside middle section of the bow. Clip the alligator clip onto the tab piece so it sits vertically centered on the bow. (See image below.)

showing placement of the alligator clip on the center tab piece. Close to the top clipped about 3/4 the way up. — Alligator clip should be aligned here.

Hot glue the tab in that position.

placing hot glue between the bow pieces and the center tab at back where alligator clip was aligned. — Alligator clip should have its topside pressed into the hot glue.

pressing the center tab to the back of the bow piece so the hot glue can bond the pieces together.

Put some hot glue on the center front of the bow.

Wrap the center tab around to the front and fold it down on top of the glue.

folding the center tab down on top of the hot glue that was placed on the center front o the bow pieces.

Wrap the remaining bit of the center tab back over to the bows backside. Open the alligator clip and place the center tab inside it.

folding the center tab piece to the back side.

Last end of center tab tucked into the alligator clip on backside of bow.

Put hot glue in between the last bit of the center tab piece and the backside of the bow.

Putting hot glue between the center tab piece and the backside of the bow with the alligator clip open.

back side of the bow finished. — Finished hair bow backside.

Let the glue cool down and the hair bow is done!

front side of the bow finished. — Finished hair bow frontside.

Additional Thoughts

You can make these bows in a variety of materials. Here is what they look like in felt, faux leather, and glitter canvas.

three stacked hair bows made from different materials. one in felt, one in faux leather, and one in glitter canvas.

That’s all there is to this bow making process. It’s so simple and quick, you could probably crank several of these out in a day. I hope you enjoy this free pattern and tutorial! If you make these and post to Instagram or Facebook, feel free to tag me. I love to see your creativity! Have fun with these and thank you so much for reading!

Looking for holiday bow options? Check out my bat hair bows here, or my holly bows here. I have lot’s of fun hair clips and accessories!