How to Tie a Bow Using a Potato Masher

Yes, you did read that title right.  I don't know if you have seen all the tutorials of how to tie a bow using a fork floating around Pinterest.  That technique was pretty revolutionary for how I tackled bow tying.  However, those turn out so small that I never really had any use for them.  So I set out on a quest one night to find a tool that would work like a fork but would give me larger bows.  Enter the potato masher.  It works perfectly because you can use it to make two different bow sizes.

I used the middle three "tines" and it makes about a 2" wide bow, which was exactly what I was looking for for a tutorial that will be coming soon.

The Steps:

1. First off, I used my legs to hold the potato masher, if you couldn't tell in the photos - a girl only has so many hands.  Take a length of ribbon/string/etc.  I used raffia for a rustic look (something to note is that if you are tying a lot of bows with this red raffia, it will stain your fingers red...).  I left one end attached to the spool so I wasted less.  For this tutorial, the "loose end" will refer to the end of string not attached to a spool.  If you are using it where both ends are unattached, just pick any end.

2. Loop your string under the tines.  I used the middle "W" of my potato masher to make 2" bows.  You could use the outer tines as well to make something larger.

3. Wrap the loose end of string around the tines several times (the more times you wrap, the more strings you will have in your bow loop).  Make sure that the loose end is below the attached end.  You can see in the photo how I kept it underneath (this is important for when you go to tie your knot).

4. Thread the loose end over the wrapped pieces, underneath and then back up between the wrapped pieces and the "u" of the middle masher tine.  Basically you twist it with the attached end, then make a loop around the wrapped pieces (this forms the middle part of the bow that separated each looped end).  Here is an enlarged photo of the step:

5. Tie both ends of the string (loose and attached) into a double knot.

6. Snip the attached end so that it is the same length as the loose end and slip the bow off the masher.  You are done!

Hope these directions made sense.  I realize that step 4 is pretty confusing.  If you are struggling with any of these steps please do not hesitate to ask a question in the comments or send me a message on the facebook page.  No question is silly, I am always happy to help and to connect with readers!