Making Hair Bows Out of 1950's Shoe Clips

Princess Five was home this weekend to support her sister in a contest she was participating in. 

She cleaned her room out last time she was home and found these little 1950's shoe clips that she had picked up somewhere and wanted to make hair bows from them but we never did. 

She asked if I would make them into hair bows for her while she was home so we did it. I first took tin snip metal cutters and cut off the shoe clip poky metal. I then snipped them metal under the center of the bows so that it wouldn't catch on her hair or scratch her scalp.

I show in the video how I cut them but you can also see in the picture how I snip it and pull it out from under the center of the bow. 

After I pull out the metal, I take the base of the hair clip and slide it under the middle piece of leather. Depending on the size of the clip, you may have to undo the middle piece of the bow and glue the metal base of the clip under the center piece and then glue the center piece over the base piece of the clip.

To get the clip apart, you just use your fingers to push apart the back hinge of the clip and the moving part will pop off. Then take the spring piece out of the center and the part that is left is the base piece you want to put under the center piece of the bow. You can see it in the video and picture.

After you have the metal piece under the center of the bow, use a hot glue gun carefully and glue that piece in the center so the bow doesn't slide back and forth on the metal base. Basically, put hot glue between the base piece and the bow right in the center. Be careful not to touch the glue gun to the fabric as it can burn or melt the fabric depending on the type of fabric. 
 
Be careful not to burn yourself with hot glue. I used one of the other clip pieces to push the metal clip onto the bow while the glue cooled.    
 
Once the glue is cool, you can replace the spring bar piece by putting the one side in the clipping side first and then the back open side. 

Once the spring piece is in the center, you can put the last top piece back in by sliding it through the center and forcing the little hinge pieces into the holes of the base piece. Just watch the video to see how it came out and reverse the process to put it back together.         

You can pick up clips for not much at craft stores. I bought a bunch of packages when the girls were young and still haven't gone through them all. It has been nice having the handy for when I need them though.