Little Miss Pinny: Star Power Bow Tutorial (For Mario and Luigi Pinafores)

I'm so excited to share my first tutorial with you guys! As I was thinking of what I could do, I thought it would be really fun to show you all how to make something to go along with the Pinny(s) of the Month- Marvelous Mario and Little Luigi!

As I have mentioned on this blog, the pinafores I make can be worn for costumes and/or for everyday wear. I've already demonstrated how they can be worn as costumes in the post that introduced the two pinafores, but I think that this tutorial will be good to give you ideas on how you can make them into something to wear anywhere too! :)

Here's what we'll be making today:

Totally cute, no? ;) This can also be done with red felt too if you wanted to make it for Mario. I just went with Luigi because, personally, I kind of like Luigi more, and I don't think he gets enough love. ;)

What you'll need:

Green Felt

Yellow Felt

Stiff Black Felt (you can use the regular felt that's a little more floppy, but the stiff kind will be much easier to use)

Fabric Pen (with disappearing ink)

Sewing Scissors

Hot glue gun

Star shape (I used a small, plastic, glow-in-the-dark star from my daughter's ceiling. You can use something similar, or you can trace an image from a picture and cut it out. Anything that will be a good template to trace, and the size you want)

Hair clip or headband

1.) Cut out a strip from your green felt. Mine measured approximately 1.5 inches by 6.5 inches.

2.) Cut out another green felt strip, but smaller. Mine was approximately .5 inches by 3.5 inches.

3.) Lay your star shape flat on your yellow felt and trace around it with your fabric pen. (Fabric pens are great for marking fabric since the ink will disappear when you wash it or within 24 hours or so).

Now you have three pieces that don't look anything like a bow, but they will!

4.) Take the bigger of the felt strips and fold the ends together, one on top of the other. Glue these together so that they hold.

It should look like this after you've glued. :)

5.) Next, pinch the middle together so that it resembles a bow. This isn't necessary really, but it does help you to see how you want your bow to look when it's finished and it creases it so that the next step is easier. (Please forgive me for the horrible way that ruler in the back looks. I didn't notice it until after I had taken all of the pictures and finished the bow).

6.) Next, place the smaller strip around the bow. This will be the middle. Trim off the excess ends, but leave enough so that you can glue those ends together just like you did with the bigger strip. Glue the ends together while keeping the small strip tight around the bow.

7.) Set the bow aside. Next, we'll be making little eyes for the star power! Cut a small piece from your stiff black felt, and then cut out very small ovals. You can use a pair of tweezers to help hold the felt so that you can get a nicely shaped and tiny oval. This part is just a little tricky, so if you'd rather skip it, that's fine! Although the eyes do make it look more like the star from Mario Bros., it will still look great! :)

8.) Carefully put a small dot of glue on the eyes (one at a time) and place them on the star.

9.) After that, put a small dab of glue on the back of the star and place it gently in the middle of the bow (if you press it down, you'll see the glue through the yellow fabric and your little star will look funny). Then glue the entire bow onto a hair clip or a headband.