Make a custom hair bow for the holidays with iron-on transfers.
You might think of iron-on transfers as something used only for T-shirts, but you can use them for other things as well. In fact, you can even apply iron-on transfers to grosgrain ribbon and make them into hair bows.This gives the hair bows you make a custom look and allows you to tailor hair bows to a variety of interests, tastes, and personalities. Flowers, cartoon animals, pink hearts, or even skulls and crossbones are just a few of the ideas that you can use.
Instructions
1. Open your word processing program. Change the settings to "Landscape" and change the margins to the smallest size (this will vary depending on your printer's capabilities). This allows you to make the longest strip possible of your design.
2. Open a clip-art image or use a design you have created yourself and size it to fit the ribbon you want to transfer it to. For example, if you use one-inch-wide ribbon, make your image a little less than one inch tall. If you want to put words on your ribbon, simply choose the font and color you want and type the words. Repeat the design until you have a long row the length of the page. You can choose to either fill the entire page with the same design, or do the other rows on the page with different designs for other ribbons.
3. Change the settings for your printer so your image will print in reverse. Depending on your printer, this setting may be called either "Mirror," "Reverse" or "Flip." This will ensure that your design will not appear backwards when you iron it onto your ribbon. This is especially important if you have used any words in your design.
4. Test how your design looks by printing it on a plain piece of paper, and make sure it is the right size for your ribbon. You may choose the "Draft" printing option to use less ink.
5. Place a sheet of the iron-on transfer paper into the printer and print your design onto it. Allow the ink to dry.
6. Set up your ironing board so it is waist-high or a bit lower. This will let you use more pressure as you iron on your transfer. Turn the iron on and set it to the highest cotton temperature setting and set to No Steam. Let it preheat for 5 to 10 minutes.
7. Cut the iron-on transfers into strips with the scissors. Cut the grosgrain ribbon to the desired length as well.
8. Lay the ribbon down onto the ironing board. Place the iron-on transfer strip face down onto the ribbon.
9. Press the ribbon with the iron in a slow, left-and-right motion for about 20 seconds and with an up-and-down motion for another 20 seconds. Press down firmly as you do so. If your image does not seem to transfer well, use more pressure. Peel the paper backing off slowly so it does not tear.
10. Apply another strip of the same design to the ribbon, positioning it carefully so it has the same spacing as the rest of the design. Repeat the steps above. Keep adding strips of iron-on transfer to the ribbon until you have the length you want covered with your design.
11. Make your hair bows with the method of your choosing.
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