Rag Bow Tutorial

Grab your white muslin, about 3-4 feet long. Tip* The longer the muslin, the bigger the rag bows. Pay attention to the fringed edge. Usually you should be able to tear into straight lines, by tearing using the fringed side as a starting point. If your fabric is not tearing easily, grab some fabric scissors. Playing with the width of each section, you will create different looks for your rag bows. (½” to 1” section is a good idea) Along one edge, cut about 2 inches to give you a good starting point to begin your tears.
Grab your other materials. You will repeat this process in order to create a bunch of torn up pieces of material.
Repeat for all pieces of fabric used for your rag bow. If there are little strings, that is a sign you are doing things right.

Grab your gloves, a large container with a lid, and your liquid starch. Pour about 2 cups down into your container. Add a small amount of water to make sure you have firm rainbow sections. If you prefer them to be not as stiff, add a little more water.
Stir up with a large kitchen spoon.
Insert your first bundle of fabric into a bucket. Make sure the fabric is nice and saturated. Just like your laundry, don’t mix your whites and reds.
Be sure you squeeze out the remnants of your saturated fabric. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.
After it has sat out for a night over a laundry holder, laying flat on your table, or you run it through a dryer, if you don’t think it is stiff enough, you can spray it with a squirt bottle filled with straight starch and a tiny bit of water to help it come through your bottle easier. Let it dry again to really stiffen. Tip* If you put them in the dryer, dry each batch separately for about 10 minutes each so the colors don’t blend or they don’t get tied together as they tumble.
epeat these steps with all of your rag material bundles. Set your bucket and excess starch to the side.

With your white muslin material, grab a few pieces to start one end of your rag bow. Adding one strip at a time, hold tight in one hand as you work your other hand through the rag material to keep it from clumping.
As you go, add a little color of one fabric, then bring in more white to offset. Be sure to alternate your colors as you gather the materials in your hand.
You should have about 15-20 pieces of material in your hand.

Grab some rick rack, lace, shoelaces, or anything you desire. You can trim it up at the end. This will just add a fun new texture.
Continue adding in some color rag materials, white muslin, or whatever you think is needed. Remembering to sweep them as you go so they don’t bundle.
To tie off, grab some of your white fabric and tie it off in the center of all of your crunchy rags.
Keep the tie nice and long, as you will use this to attach to your wreath and set aside.

Grab a white muslin rag strip. You should be able to create your first loop in your hand by taking the material, pull it back towards your body facing sunny side up, twist and then forward to make your next loop. It should look like a bow in your hands held together in the center. Tip* The loops should be able to stand at attention, being nice and stiff. If it isn’t, you need more starch from your squirt bottle.
Repeat with your next color rag material, making sure your loops and tails are nice and long. Repeat over and over with all of 2 of your rag materials. Eyeball how many colors you need, layers you need, loops you need... it is up to you. Tip* If you have a hair straightener, you can simply run one through one at a time. Once they are warmed up, they can get nice and stiff which will help with your bow creation.
Typically, my bows will have 25-30 loops of each color material, depending on the size of the project I will be attaching it to. Make sure your bow is nice and full before you think to tie it off.

Once your bow is the size you desire, you can clip it with a chip clip so it doesn’t lose its shape, as you set it aside for a moment.
Grab your rag sections that you tied off earlier. Once you have found your long piece you used to tie that together, you will place your looped rag bow into your tie. Make a nice, strong tie right in the middle. Always double knot.
Go back under all the rags and knot it again. Make a double knot. You will use this to help you with attaching to something else later on.
If your rag bow is not as stiff as you like it, don’t stress. You can always spray starch again later. Tip* I personally like to dip it in straight starch, because I like it crunchy.
Remember to sweep your rags by running your hands through the rags. Clean it up as much as you like, by trimming it to where it is even in length. If you like the more primitive look, you don’t have to do that.

You can add any number of things to add to the center of your bow, so get creative.
Determine which side of your rag bow is the front, before you add your embellishment of choice. Tip* Look for the side that shows your lace or rick rack best.
Grab your fabric lamp shade magnet from Hobby Lobby and your hot glue. Be sure to add a generous amount of glue to the center of your magnet. Place in the middle of your rag bow and press firmly for 30 seconds to help it stay secure.
Remember to sweep it again to clean it up.

I like my rag bows to be crunchy and stiff, so I will starch it several times throughout the process of my projects.
First by saturating in a bucket/tub/container. Next, by using a spray bottle directly with starch. The crunchiness of your project is entirely up to you and your preference. Myself, I like my bow loops to stand at attention, so I starch like crazy and let dry over night.
Don’t forget to touch up your dry starched loops, with a hair straightener to use the heat to activate the starch.