Accordion Fold Bow

Today's bow(s) are super simple and can be made any size. If you feel like busting out some sewing skills, you can also make these from fabric (you might want a little interfacing on larger ones to help them keep a crisp shape though)! The best part is that you can alter these to make your accordion bow into a snowflake bow and then every bow is different!

To start, select your paper or fabric (to get nice crisp folds in your end product and assure that it will spread nicely once open, I recommend using thinner paper rather than a card stock. Magazine paper or gift wrap would be perfect as it allows your paper to move pretty freely.

I always use the ratio of one inch wide for every three inches long when cutting my paper into a strip to be folded. The bow seen here is 4 inches wide, so I used a strip of paper 12 inches long.

If you want a "perfect" looking bow, you can measure out inch increments on the back of your bow or score fold lines so each fold is the same size. Then, fold your paper back and forth to make this accordion folded strip (I always fold my accordion an even number of times, so both "ends" are folded with the pretty side facing out and the plain side facing inwards so no one sees it in the final bow.):

Once it is folded you will want to staple it in the middle (or sew if using fabric), and then spread out your little folds to make a circular bow. Secure your ends together with glue, tape or another staple and you will have this:

A little Plain Jane for your taste? Once you have stapled your accordion folded paper in the middle, feel free to cut out some shapes as if you were making a paper snowflake. Here is my accordion folded paper, stapled, with cut outs:

You could use pinking shears or other decorative edged scissors to add a little more "oompf" as well. Again, using a thinner paper aids dramatically in being able to cut out your shapes.


When you spread out and fasten the edges of your snowflake together now you will get a bow that looks like this:

There you have it! Again, this is a great way to start out making bows in an assembly line type of way, but end up with a bunch of great unique bows by cutting out different shapes!