- Learning how to make a cheer bow is a fun way to personalize your style.
- You can create DIY cheer bows for practice, performances, and competitions.
- Some of our favorite personalization options include embroidery and rhinestones.
- Follow our guide to learn how to make your own cheer bow or buy a custom piece online.
DIY Cheer Bows
Cheer bows are a beautiful accessory that can be the perfect finishing touch for your cheer uniform. But you don’t have to wear a generic design that looks just like everyone else’s! Whether you’re trying to match your team colors, personalize your bow with initials, or just add a ton of sparkle, customizing your bow is a great way to ensure your team stands out.
At Omni Cheer, we love all things cheer — including hair bows! If you need to customize your bows as a team or make a fun bow to wear for practice, we’re here to help with a comprehensive tutorial. Take a look at our guide to learn how to make a cheer bow and discover all the ways you can customize your favorite accessory.
Finding Your Perfect Bow
The first step in making DIY cheer bows is finding the right bow base. The size, shape, color, and material all matter when planning to customize your design.
Size & Shape
While the jumbo bow is the most popular size, you may want to experiment with a few different options before making your choice. Often, the jumbo bows are too big for sideline youth and teen cheerleaders, so a thin, traditional bow or a regular-size bow may be a better option for you. If you plan on learning how to make a cheer bow with layers, you may also need to purchase several different sizes that all work together.
Here’s a handy guide to determine the size and shape your bow will take based on the ribbon measurements:
- Jumbo Bow: Ribbon measures 3” wide, and the full bow measures 7” wide and 6” long.
- Regular Bow: Ribbon is 2” wide, and the full bow measures 6” wide and 6.5” long.
- Traditional Bow: Ribbon is ¾” wide, and the full bow measures 6” wide and 9” long.
For fuller, thicker bows, look for wider ribbon sizes. If you want a bow that hangs down the back of your ponytail, look for thinner ribbons that have longer tails.
Material
Most cheer bows are made from grosgrain ribbon. This is a sturdy material with a weave that creates a fun, striped texture on your bow. If you want something a little stiffer, you can spray your grosgrain bow with a stiffening spray or purchase a bow with wired edges that hold it in shape. You may want a sturdier bow if you plan on adding heavy embellishments, such as numerous rhinestones or Spanglez. When learning how to make a cheer bow, we recommend having a stiffening spray on hand to prep your bow for heavy additions.
Customization Ideas
There are tons of unique ways you can DIY a cheer bow! Most importantly, you need to decide on whether you’re working with team colors or whether you want to add dimension through embellishments. You can even do both in the same bow! Take a look at a few ideas for how to make a cheer bow your own.
1. Heat & Bond
If you have a single-color bow that you want to transform, bonding another ribbon to your base bow is a simple and easy way to upgrade your look. With a heat-activated bonding product, you just line up your second ribbon on top of the bow and iron it on to make sure the two ribbons stick together.
How you make this cheer bow shine is by finding a ribbon that’s slightly thinner than your base bow ribbon and offers a good color contrast. When you layer them on top of each other, you can see both clearly. We love using a sparkly, sequin, or metallic ribbon as our accent option to make your cheer bow even more exciting.
2. Embellishments
The next idea for how to make a cheer bow a personal expression of your fashion or cheer spirit is by adding embellishments. Our absolute favorite version of this DIY cheer bow is using double-stick fabric tape to place a patch with your initial(s) on one loop of the bow for a cute, asymmetrical look. The initials could be your school name or your own name!
It can be a little risky to wash your bow if you use fabric tape for this project, so if your bow gets sweaty, you may want to use a fabric glue or bonding material for more durability during washes.
3. Spirit Ribbons
Lots of cheerleaders wear a jumbo bow for practice, performances, and competitions. So, how do you stand out? With spirit ribbons! How you make a cheer bow with spirit ribbons is pretty easy. First, shop thinner ribbons (¾” or less) in your school colors to provide a contrast to your base bow. If you have a black jumbo bow, use white, red, yellow, or blue to stand out! You can even find patterned contrast ribbons with stripes or polka dots!
Next, cut several strands from your various thin ribbons, measuring between six and eight inches long. Tie each of your thin ribbons around your base bow until you feel like it’s full enough. And, you’re done! This cheer bow tutorial is best for cheerleaders who wear their ribbon on the back of their heads instead of on top.
4. Multi-Toned
Our last idea for how to make a cheer bow customized to your team is the multi-tone option. Instead of bonding or gluing additional strips of ribbon to your base bow, you layer all the pieces and tie them together for a custom DIY cheer bow. You can have two, three, or even four different ribbon colors layered together. Just make sure your ribbons gradually get thinner and thinner so you can see every color.
Buying Custom
If making your own bow seems like it takes too much time, or you just don’t feel very creative, don’t worry! You can buy a custom cheer bow from us! At Omni Cheer, we know how to make cheer bows unique, so we help you customize your style through our guided process. Check out a few of our bow customization options to decide which one is right for you!
Sublimation
This style of customization uses heat and pressure to bond ink to the grosgrain ribbon of your bow and change its color permanently. These colors are super vibrant and won’t run in the wash! Our sublimated bow options allow you to choose up to three colors for your bow and feature rhinestones along the edges of the design for a little extra pop!
Rhinestones
If you love a touch of glitz and glamour, we recommend our rhinestone customization option. These ribbons feature one of two rhinestone designs, including starburst and striped patterns. Once you choose your rhinestone pattern, you can customize your ribbon with the color of your choice. We offer over 15 ribbon colors to ensure your rhinestone bow matches your uniform!
Imprinting
Our final option for how to make a custom cheer bow uses imprinting. Imprinting is when we use a second ink color to spray your bow with a permanent accent. When you choose imprinting for your custom bow, you get to decide whether you want initials or a name up to six letters long. Then, you type in the letters, select your colors, and choose your font for a completely personalized bow.
Find Support at Omni Cheer
Whether you want to learn how to make a cheer bow or buy a custom option from our store, we’re here to support your squad in any way we can. Explore our entire store to discover new arrivals, customization options, and cheerwear for practices and performances! And don’t forget to visit our blog for tons of tips, from learning how to rock cheer facials to getting a leg up on your newest tumbling combo.
Have questions about how to make a cheer bow, or interested in buying a bulk set of custom bows? We’re here to help! Reach out to our team today for personalized support.
