Sew Those Korkers!

I've often referred to myself as the Queen of Live and Learn, because I do things, think it's easy, then find a better way.

Take my korker bows for example. Follow all the steps right up to the part where I tell you to tie them together. You see, tying them all together works, and it's easy! That is until your two year old gets bored and finds her korker bow is way more fun when all the curls can be pulled out. And then you have ribbon korkers strewn across your home and a child with no bow.

With that said, I'm here to encourage you to sew those korkers!

For this I just grabbed a few korkers I had left over from Halloween, so today - the FIRST DAY of 2009 - you get a festive orange korker! It might be a good idea to have about 24+ korkers on hand. They seem to make a nice round bow.


Don't forget the needle and thread. For this I doubled it up to make it stronger.


Tie a knot about 5-6 inches up from the end. As you can see I tried three different times to get the knot to double. And it just wasn't happening.


Take one korker, find the middle and press it onto the needle.


Push the korker all the way down to your fingers, but keeping it on the needle.


Add a second korker and have it go in a different direction.


As you place the korkers on the needle try and fan them out as you go.


Soon you'll have them all on and a tiny tip of the needle left.


Go ahead and slide the bunch off the needle and onto the thread.


Gently slide them all down to the knot. Be careful because if you push too hard against that knot you'll lose korkers - like I said, "Queen of Live and Learn".


Now, turn that needle around and go back through the korkers. You can try to bunch them together and push hard, but that can get a little dangerous. So I like to keep my korkers semi-loose and go back through in sets of 2 or 3.


If you want those korkers to be extra secure go through two more times.


Once your two ends of the thread are on the same end, trim off the needle and tie the ends together to tighten the korkers up.


And don't forget that double knot!


Finally, with your fingers, play with the curls and get them to fluff up just a little.


And now you have a korker that little fingers can't pull apart! YAY!

Korker Bows Halloween Style!

I'm a big fan of Halloween. In fact, my mom knows that when she goes out to look for clothes for my girls, if she returns with a Halloween shirt, it is sure to be a hit with me. So, when I started working on making korker bows I began going through my ribbon cart (yes, I have an entire cart dedicated to ribbon, it's an obsession really) I came across a bunch of leftovers that I hadn't used in awhile, and they were perfect for making Halloween bows!


To start off you need a few things: 1/4" wooden dowels, 3/8" ribbon (anything thicker doesn't curl as well), and clothes pins. If you are using 1/4" ribbon be sure to grab 3/16" dowels instead, they work much better on the thinner ribbon!


Hold ribbon at a slight angle and attach to the dowel using the clothes pin. I was once told to just use one of the metal alligator clips, and it was the worst advice I ever got. Almost all my ribbons came loose and unravelled. So learn from my mistake - don't use alligator clips!


Continue to wrap ribbon around dowel until you get to the end.


Once you reach the end, trim your ribbon with scissors.


And attach with another clothes pin.


Repeat this process until all of your ribbons are wrapped. They should look something like this!


Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.


Place your dowels on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. If you don't have one you can also use foil to cover the racks. Once the oven is heated slide your dowels in.


Set the timer for 30 minutes.


When the timer goes off, remove the cookie sheet and allow ribbon to cool completely before removing the clothes pins. Here's a look at my ribbon right before I took it off the dowels. (hint: I'm not a starch kind of person, but if you like your bows a little more crisp, take a can of starch and spray it on the dowels before they cool.)


Begin removing the ribbon by lifting one end off the dowel and twisting it around until the whole thing starts to come off. I've had ribbon just slide off before, other times it gets snagged. Do whatever is easiest for you, just pull gently so it doesn't undo the curl.


Here are all the korkers off their dowels. Aren't they pretty?


Each korker will be 12" long. If you are using an 18" dowel, then obviously the korkers will be that long.


First I cut the 12" korker in half....


....giving me two 6" korkers.


Then I take those 6 inch korkers and cut at the 3" mark....


....giving me four 3" korkers.


Repeat until you have a whole stack of 3" korkers!


Now we're ready for the fun part....getting those korkers to go wild. A word to the wise....be sure to invest in elastic cord! I tried just using thread and it's a pain because it slips. The elastic gives you a nice tight grip on the ribbon.


Cut a piece of elastic about 8" long, and stack about 12-24 korkers on top of it. The more korkers you use, the more round your bow will be. For this one I only used 12.


Begin tying and slowly bring the elastic together. Sometimes the korkers fall out of place, which is why I have the next step....


Holding the tie with one hand, take the other an even out the korkers. Some may be longer on one end, so just tug gently until they all look even.


Then hold your breath and pull tight! Look at all those korkers go wild! I love it! Do a double knot to make sure it's secure. If you see any korkers that are still long you can tug again to even them out.


Trim the extra elastic off.


Now we're ready to attach our korkers to a clip.


Put a line of glue on your ribbon covered clip.


Take the korkers and look for the knot of the elastic. That's the end that I like to glue down so you can't see it.


Press firmly in the middle and allow glue to cool.


A look at it from the back.....

....and there you have the korker bow. It's almost as easy as saying Trick or Treat!