Crochet Bow Patterns: 10 Free Patterns From One Basic Bow
I have exactly one bow pattern on this site. It has turned into five posts.
That is not padding. It is the thing nobody tells you about crochet bows: the bow itself is the easy part, and every bow you have ever scrolled past is basically the same rectangle finished a different way.
So this list is in two halves. First, the bow I commissioned and the five ways I have finished it. Then five bows from other designers that mine genuinely cannot do, each one linking straight back to them.
The Bow Everything Else Is Built From
Every bow in the first half of this list is the same bow.
Two flat rectangles worked in back loops only, which is the bit that leaves a ridge on every row and makes it sit puffy instead of flat. I commissioned that one pattern and it has carried five posts since.
The full write-up with step photos lives on the puffy bow hair tie page, and I am not going to repeat it five times here.
So everything below is a finishing decision. Each entry tells you what changes at the end and links back to the pattern it came from.
1. Puffy Bow Hair Tie
This is the original, and it is still the one I would start with.
The elastic gets wrapped into the center on the last pass, so there is no glue and nothing to sew onto. It comes out about 8 to 10 cm wide and takes 30 to 45 minutes once you have made one.
Match the hair tie to the yarn. A black elastic peeking out from under a mint bow is the single thing that makes a handmade hair tie look unfinished. Full pattern with step photos: puffy bow hair tie.
2. Mini Bow Set of 3
Same bow, written as a batch of three in coordinating colors.
I split this out because a set solves a problem one bow does not. One bow is a nice little thing. Three matching bows in a box is a gift, and the yarn cost is still close to nothing since each bow eats only a few grams.
The trick to making three look deliberate rather than leftover is counting your center wraps on the first one and matching that number on the other two. Pattern: crochet mini bow set.
3. Bow Keychain
Skip the elastic, add a ring, and the same bow clips to keys or a bag strap.
There are three ways to finish it and they look quite different. Ring straight through the back wrap sits flat against your keys. A short chain dangle lets it swing, which is better on a bag. A swivel clasp lets you move it between bags and stops it twisting on the strap.
Use a split ring, the double-loop kind, not a jump ring. A jump ring works itself open over a few months and drops your keys somewhere you will not find them. Pattern: crochet bow keychain.
4. Bow Hair Clip
The easiest finish of the lot, because the bow does not change at all. You glue or sew the finished bow onto an alligator clip.
Glue the wrapped center knot, not the loops, or the bow flops forward the first time you clip it in. Fabric glue stays a bit softer and survives better than hot glue, which grabs faster.
Crochet bows are light, so on fine hair the clip can slide. A thin strip of ribbon or felt lining the inside of the clip is usually all the grip it needs. Pattern: crochet bow hair clip.
5. Bow Garland
Make five to seven bows, link them along a chain, and the hair accessory becomes wall decor.
Chain 15 between bows and keep that number identical the whole way across. Even spacing is the only thing separating a garland that looks designed from a string of bows that looks like a pile of bows.
You can thread them onto ribbon or baker’s twine instead if you would rather not chain a long cord. Five to seven bows gives you roughly three to four feet. Pattern: crochet bow garland.
Five Bows Mine Cannot Do
That is where my one pattern runs out.
A puffy 9 cm bow is not a bow tie, it is not a bag, and it is not something you can finish in the two minutes before you walk out the door. These five come from designers who solved constructions mine does not touch, and every one of them is free and written out in full on their own page.
6. Bow Tie (Baby and Child Sizes)
A real bow tie is three pieces, not one, and that is why my bow cannot fake it.
Crystal Marin builds it from a textured rectangle, a separate loop the rectangle feeds through, and an adjustable band that threads behind. The texture comes from a modified mini bean stitch alternating with single crochet rows, which gives it those little bumps a formal bow tie needs to not read as a flat scrap.
It comes in baby (4.5 by 2 inches) and child (5.25 by 2.5 inches), works up in about 40 minutes on a 5 mm hook in worsted, and closes with a button, velcro, or nothing at all if you make it clip-on. Get the free pattern: ChristaCoDesign.
7. Big Bow Clutch
This is the one that surprised me, because it is a bag where the bow is the entire front panel.
Lindsey works the base, the bow, the center strip and an optional strap as separate flat pieces, then seams them together. Scaling the bow up to bag size is not something you can do by chaining more on a small bow pattern, since the proportions fall apart.
Adult size finishes at 11 inches wide by 7 tall, and there is a child size at 7.5 by 4.5 for anyone making a matching pair. Worsted acrylic, 5 mm hook. Get the free pattern: Winding Road Crochet.
8. Coquette Bow Pillow
A bow you sit against rather than wear.
It is worked in Bernat Blanket on a 5.5 mm hook, and the loops, panels, legs and edges get joined with single crochet as you stuff it. That construction is why it holds a bow shape at scale instead of sagging into a cushion with a dent in the middle.
Finished it is about 13 inches wide by 10.5 tall, and the designer says it took an evening. One skein does the whole thing. Get the free pattern: Sarah Faith Crafts.
9. Four Bows in Four Yarns
One page, four bows, and the reason it earns a slot is yarn range.
Twinkie Chan works the same idea in extra bulky wool, plain worsted acrylic and a thin mohair blend, on hooks from H to M. The first three are barely patterns in the best way, a long chain tied into a bow shape, which is about as low as the barrier gets.
The fourth, the one she calls Enchanting, is multi-piece and steps up to intermediate. If you want the delicate mohair end of the bow spectrum, this is where to find it, since my cotton bow does not go there. Get the free patterns: Creativebug.
10. The Two Minute Bow
Mine takes half an hour. This one takes under two minutes, and it is here to prove how low the floor goes.
Lauren Brown works the whole bow as a single piece: chain 5, then treble crochets worked back into that first chain with chain spaces between them to form the loops. No folding, no seaming, no back loops only. The yarn tail wraps the center seven times and that is the bow finished.
She timed herself at 1 minute and 38 seconds. Worsted yarn, I/9 hook, and it works as a hair clip, an applique on a hat or blanket, or a baby bow tie if you put it on a chain. Get the free pattern: Daisy Cottage Designs.
Pick One by What You Are Actually Making
| Pattern | Skill | Yarn | Time | What it becomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Two Minute Bow | Beginner | Worsted | Under 2 min | Clip, applique, baby bow tie |
| Four Bows in Four Yarns | Beginner to intermediate | Bulky to mohair | 10 min to an hour | Anything, four ways |
| Bow Keychain | Beginner | 4-ply cotton | 20-30 min | Keys, bag charm |
| Bow Garland | Beginner | 4-ply cotton | 20-30 min per bow | Nursery, party, shelf |
| Bow Hair Clip | Beginner | 4-ply cotton | 30-40 min | Everyday hair clip |
| Puffy Bow Hair Tie | Beginner | 4-ply cotton | 30-45 min | Ponytail |
| Bow Tie | Easy | Worsted | About 40 min | Baby or child formalwear |
| Mini Bow Set of 3 | Beginner | 4-ply cotton | 1 hr for three | A boxed gift |
| Coquette Bow Pillow | Easy to intermediate | Bernat Blanket | An evening | Sofa or bed |
| Big Bow Clutch | Intermediate | Worsted acrylic | Not stated | A bag |
Three Things That Make a Crochet Bow Look Flat
Almost every disappointing crochet bow I have seen comes down to one of these.
You worked both loops where the pattern asked for back loops only. No ridges, no puff. Check it on your second row rather than at the end, because this is not something you can fix once the bow is assembled.
Your tension is too loose. Bows are small, and small pieces show slack tension worse than anything. Work tighter than feels natural, especially in cotton.
You wrapped the center too gently. The first two or three wraps set the shape and everything after is reinforcement. Pinch hard, wrap hard, and the bow puffs out on both sides instead of drooping.
If the edges of a finished bow curl, hover a steam iron just above it without pressing down. Cotton relaxes in seconds.
Sizing a Bow Up or Down
You do not need a new pattern to change the size, which is worth knowing before you go hunting for one.
Add to the starting chain and keep the rows the same. Ch 48 to 52 instead of 40 gives you a longer, droopier bow, which is the coquette shape people are usually after.
Changing hook and yarn moves it too. Worsted on a 4 mm hook takes my bow to roughly 12 cm wide, which suits an adult ponytail better. Thread weight on a 2.5 mm hook takes it down to earring scale.
The stitch counts never change. Only the chain length, the yarn and the hook do.
FAQ
What is the easiest crochet bow pattern for a beginner?
The two minute bow from Daisy Cottage Designs, which is one piece and needs no sewing at all. After that, the keychain version at 20 to 30 minutes, or the first three bows on the Creativebug page, which are a long chain tied into a bow shape. None of them involve shaping or rounds to count.
How much yarn does one crochet bow use?
A few grams. One 50 g ball of 4-ply cotton makes several bows, which is why these are such good scrap projects. A bulky pillow bow is the exception and takes a full skein of blanket yarn.
What is the best yarn for crochet bows?
Milk cotton or any 4-ply cotton. Cotton holds the back-loop ridges crisply and keeps colors bright. Acrylic works but looks softer and fuzzier, and very soft acrylic goes floppy on a piece this small.
How do I make a bigger, droopier coquette bow?
Add to your starting chain, try ch 48 to 52, and leave the row count alone. You can also stack a smaller bow on top of a larger one for that layered look, or sew a single pearl onto the center knot, which hides the wrap join at the same time.
Are these patterns in US or UK terms?
US terms throughout on the Crochee patterns. A US double crochet is a UK treble, so if you are reading in UK terms, work trebles for the main piece and half trebles for the center strip.
How do I stop a crochet bow from losing its shape?
Wrap the center tightly, use cotton rather than a soft acrylic, and give anything that gets daily handling a light mist of fabric stiffener. A keychain bow gets tugged far more than a hair tie, so it needs the firmest center wrap of the lot.
Can I sell what I make from these patterns?
You can sell finished bows made from the Crochee patterns. Please do not repost or resell the written pattern itself. For the five patterns by other designers, check each designer’s own terms on their page, since they all set their own.
Make the Keychain Tonight
If you have never made a crochet bow, make the keychain version. It is half an hour, it uses scraps, and finishing one is what makes you want to try the garland.
If you are making it as a present, the crochet mini pouch takes another evening and turns any bow on this list from a craft into a gift. And if you liked how far one pattern stretched here, my roundup of crochet keychain ideas does the same job for charms.
Three bows in a box is one gift solved. For the other people on the list, my crochet gift ideas sorted by recipient covers nine more makes, from a teacher to a new baby.
Save this to Pinterest so you can find it again, and browse the rest of the free hair accessory patterns while you are here.
