Make a doll sized Cheer Bow with this easy tutorial
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Joss Kendrick™ is the American Girl® Girl of the Year for 2020. She’s a ten year old girl living in Huntington Beach, California. She loves to surf with her friend and surf sister, Sophia, and her brothers. In her story, she tries out something new- cheerleading. She finds that she can be both a cheerleader and a surfer in the process. Her cheer bow is an important part of her story. Here is a quick tutorial to make a felt cheer bow for your Joss doll or any of here friends. I used my cricut machine but you can cut the pieces by hand as well.
Find a full selection of easy PDF sewing patterns for 18 inch dolls and other sizes in my Etsy Shop to make your own surf outfits and cheer uniforms too!
Easy Cheer bows for dolls using Cricut designs
Supplies: (due to the use of hot glue, young children should be supervised to make this project.)
- colored felt or faux leather (I use assorted felt from Amazon and faux leather from Cricut. You can also buy GLITTER VINYL for this project.)
- electronic cutter (like a cricut machine) or sharp scissors
- glue gun
- hair clip, hair tie or headband to attach bow to (I like these alligator clips from Amazon.)
- tool to push the hot glue and keep your fingers safe
1. Choose your bow design. You can use any image or design that will produce a 3D bow. In Cricut Access, choose a bow design that makes a 3D bow. You can also find an svg file on etsy or even google. You will know it is a 3d bow because it will import as pieces that might not look like a bow yet. I used the “short bow topper” without the band for the loops (duplicate the loop layer and make one smaller than the other so you have two), and the “cute little bow” as my base layer.
2. Cut your design from felt. I like felt because it’s inexpensive and easy to work with. Be sure to try leather or sparkly faux leather. You can use one color or many. Keep all of your pieces together and size them to your preference. (My cheer bow is about 3 1/2 inches across the base layer.)
3. Heat up your glue gun, and place glue in the center of the larger loop layer. Glue both ends to the center, holding it down until the glue cools with a tool or the hair clip.
4. Do the same for the smaller loop layer.
5. When the layers are completely cool, stack them on top of each other with more glue.
6. If you are layering your bow on a solid base with tails, like I did, glue the center band to the center of your bow, and wrap it around the back, securing the edges.
7. Glue the entire bow to the base with tails. When it cools, glue your clip to the back side. Add little sparkles or sequins for decoration with more glue if you want.
8. Put Joss’ hair in a high ponytail and make sure her cheer bow stands up tall so she can fly high! (Be sure the hot glue cools completely before you put it in your doll’s hair.)
There are many bow designs to choose from. It’s easy to make them bigger, smaller, with tails or without. Alternate colors and try different materials. If you make a smaller bow without the tails, you will wrap the center piece around all the layers, including the base layer and the clip and secure it with hot glue.
Easy craft for 18 inch dolls: Make Cheer Bows with a Cricut Machine
I also made Joss’ practice shirt. I found this design in Cricut Design Space Library and added it to a simple, sparkly tee shirt. Find more information on how to do this in THIS POST.
