The Christmas rush

It is that time of year again...already!

Every groomer knows that Christmas is crazy.

It feels like one of the longest and fastest months of the year.

The month of December just fly's by.

As a matter of fact, I feel like December snuck up on me.

Wasn't it August last month?

Who am I kidding, December sneaks up on me every year.

I miss Wal-Marts Fabric Department.

That came out of left field didn't it?

Let me explain.

Every year I like to cut fabric into bandanna's for my customers dogs.

I used to be able to go to Wal-Mart and find really pretty Christmas fabric at a good cost.

I unusually make around 180 bandanna's.

For the last couple of years I have had to go to a local fabric store.

This year I went this past weekend to get fabric.

I waited too long.

All of the pretty Christmas fabric was gone, either that, or the store buyer has really bad taste in fabric.

The only thing that they had left was childish looking patterns.

I like my Christmas bandanna's to have a pretty, elegant pattern.

All of the bandanna fabric this year is okay for the male dogs.

These are just two of the patterns.

I don't think that I will be using them on too many of the females.

I bought ribbon for the girls to put on their collars or in their ears.

Once again I forgot to order ribbon for the dog's bows, so I had to get ribbon from the fabric store.

I got lucky, all of their ribbon was on sale for 50% off this week.

I still could have gotten a better deal through one of the pet supply stores.

There is a lot more ribbon on their rolls, and it is a little stuffer.

The stiffer ribbon makes puffier bows.

This is how I make my bows.

Take the ribbon and wrap it loosely around your fingers.

I wanted to make a large collar bow, so I wrapped the ribbon around 4 fingers, spread apart a little to make the bow the size I want.

If you want a smaller bow, use 2 or 3 fingers.

I use 2 fingers for ear bows.

For this bow I wrapped the ribbon around 4 times.

With this ribbon, 6 time around would have been better, 4 times is good with a stiffer ribbon.

The more times you wrap, the fuller your bow will be.

Be careful not to wrap too many times, or it will be too thick to work with.

Now fold the bow in half, careful not to flatten the round ends.

Take a pair of sharp scissors. (Not your grooming shears!)

Cut half way through the ribbon, on an angle.

Unfold the ribbon, careful not to let it unwrap.

Get your small rubber band, and place under the narrowest part of the ribbon.

You should see a loop of the rubber band on each side of the ribbon.

While holding the rubber band in place, take one loop and pull it across the ribbon and over the 

other loop.

Now grab the second loop through the first loop and pull till tight.

I hope that made sense.

I am fighting a head cold right now, and I think I am seeing double. :)

This is what it should look like so far.

  Starting from the inside loop, pull one loop out at a time.

Pull gently and twist a little, then grab another loop and pull out on the other side and twist.

Keep alternating from one side to the other, so the loops don't fall back together into one loop.

Be firm, but gentle so that you don't pull the bow apart.

This is what it will look like.

As I said before, 6 wraps would have made a fuller bow with this type of ribbon.

When making smaller bows for the dogs ears, I wait till after I have put the bow in the ear before I open it up, so that I don't smash it while putting it in the ear.

Now I find the long loop of the rubber band, and hold it open with two of my fingers.

Again, careful not to stretch the rubber band too far and break it.

Then I feed the collar through the rubber band.

I wait till the dog is going home to put the collar back on, so that the dog will not lay on it and crush it.

I have different colors, and try to use the color that I think will looks the nicest on that dog.

If you want to mix your colors, for example a red and green bow, put one color ribbon on the top of the other color before you start wrapping it around your fingers.

When you are using two ribbons, each wrap will make two loops.

Example, wrapping it 2 times around your fingers will make 4 loops, wrapping it 3 times will make 6 loops, and so on.

Okay, it is time to go cut my head off before it explodes.

I can feel the pressure building.

I hope that this post made sense.

If it doesn't, I am sorry.

I don't even have the excuse of the effects of cold medicine, because I haven't taken any yet.

I know, I am bad, I don't like medicine.

Hope to be back tomorrow. :)

Happy Grooming, MFF