Not Knitting, but related...

[mascarasnake]

So, this isn't about knitting but about embellishment. I can't tie a nice bow for my life. I tie bows like I ties shoelaces, which means the the bow kind of goes sideways; it doen't have the nice flat knot in the middle. Does anyone have any links to bow-tying instructions with pictures? I feel dopey, but I'm just no good at it...

P.S. Yes, this was motivated by my "Tempting" sweater

[Hildegard_von_Knittin]

Try this site, or this one or the michael's site or this one . These are mostly floral type bows... not sure if that's what you're looking for. You might be able to take one piece of ribbon/fabric to make the loops and "hangy parts" and then glue another around the middle/criss-cross section to make it look neater (i really tried to find a picture of this b/c my written description sucks). OR just find some kid's hair clips with bows on them and rip the bow off the clip... ? HTH

[eggplant]

Mascara, you'll be happy to know that the trick to making a shoelace-type bow hang straight is simple!

Start your bow exactly as you would tie a shoelace: single square knot, then make a single loop with one of the laces. Now, you're about to wrap the second lace over the other to make the second loop and finish the bow -- STOP -- wrap it UNDER instead of over, then push your loop through and tighten the bow, just as you would normally do.

That's the only difference -- wrapping under instead of over. It takes the twist out of the second bow loop where it goes through the main clumpy part of the knot.

This shoelace-related bow is the easiest one I know for use on clothing with I-cord or string ties. It would be fun to take some beautiful decorative ribbon and try some of those fancy floral ones posted by Hildegard, though.

[mascarasnake]

yes! that's exactly how to do it! you genious! thank you!