Minnie Mouse Bow with Rounded Edges, Easy DIY Costume

My daughter wanted to be Minnie Mouse for Halloween and we needed the perfect Minnie bow. I've posted the complete tutorial for the bow here. I also created a quick tutorial on how to make your own Minnie Mouse Gloves and this post to see how we put the costume together with a super simple skirt.

There are tons of patterns online for making cute hair bows but I couldn't find any that were like the large bow with rounded edges that Minnie wears, so I adapted a pattern to create just the look we wanted.
 

To make most bows like this, you just cut a square of fabric, but to get this larger size you want one side of your square bigger than the other. See the difference between the two bows below? I'm going to show you how to make the top one with a fuller, rounded edge.

I cut a piece of fabric 8 1/2 inches by 8 inches from this darling cotton fabric I found at JoAnn's Fabric.

Fold your square in half so that you will stitch the shorter sides together. Sew right sides together, turn out and press so seam is in the middle. See photo below.
Here's the part that is slightly different than your typical bow. Normally you'd just fold in the outer edge and stitch like the top piece in the photo below.

Instead you need to fold the edges in carefully so that your outer edge is rounded instead of straight. There's no real science to this--think curve. Just fold in a little more at the corners and a little less in the middle, making a nice scallop shape. It helps to press this with your iron and use a few pins to keep it in place.

Stitch along the outer edge with matching thread.

Now accordion fold the middle of the bow and pinch it together with your fingers.

You can hand stitch this, but I'm all for quick so I just put it under the presser foot and zigzagged across.

Now you need a piece of fabric that is 2x3 inches. I don't have step by step photos here. Just fold the 2x3 piece in half lengthwise and stitch right sides together.  Turn right side out and stitch the loop together to create the middle band for the bow.

Once that is complete, you can slide it onto your bow and adjust for tightness

Hot glue the hair clasp

Enjoy this delightful little bow. My Minnie Mouse sure was happy with how it turned out!

Check out Diamond Rings Are Deadly Things and our site for more great craft ideas and tutorials!