Parts of a Bow

I was working with a customer earlier this week to custom design a hair bow for her, and hit me, that bow makers have a "jargon" that buyers don't know about. Many times you see a bow that you like, so you buy it, but aren't aware of the pieces involved.

I wanted to take some time to share with y'all, pieces of a hair bow. Each piece can be added or removed, and it's important to know the terms, when you're working with a hair bow maker to ensure that you are getting exactly what you want.

The first piece, I want to introduce to you is the "spray". A spray is typically centered underneath the bow. It can be made up of multiple ribbons and colors, but they should all be the same length. You can have them cut inward, like the ones shown above, at a diagonal, or straight across. I think that a spray, makes a bow a bit more fancier.

The next piece is a "surround-a-loop" (the green/blue loops above). You typically see at least 2 loops, but when you're custom making a bow, you can have 1, 2, or 3. the loops surround the boutique bow. I typically use these between two boutique bows. One larger base/bottom bow, and then the loops, with a smaller boutique bow on top. Of course, these can be placed underneath only 1 bow, or both bows, but they should snug the hair bow that they surround. You want these loops to be perky, and to not fall down.

I wanted to show you a simple boutique bow. Your boutique bow loops should be perky and should stand up. You can add a fabric stiffener, ironing starch, or hair spray to help your bow hold it's shape. I typically don't use any of these, because of chemicals and personal preferences. A boutique bow in a larger size, typically sits on the bottom of a stacked bow (which is multiple pieces of the bow as shown above stacked on top of each other). A smaller boutique bow also sits on top of the stacked bow

When you put all of these pieces together, you have the stacked bow. Of course, you can add or remove each piece. Keep in mind, that the more pieces you have, the heavier the bow will be, and you might want to add a non-slip gripper, or attach the bow to an interchangeable headband.