Monday, April 2, 2012

Making a Bow Tie Out Of Daddy's Old Shirt

Mica loves ties! I decided to try to make him a bow tie. It was pretty easy. I'm not a girl that gets out the sewing machine, ever! I've always wanted to be crafty in that way, but threading it always seemed confusing to me. I'm sure it's easy, but it looks hard. Instead I hand sew stuff that could be done in minutes with a machine.

Here's the end result of my handmade upcycled bow tie:
I started with this, an old shirt via Daddy:


The shirt is stained a pinkish color in some spots. I couldn't use those spots to create the tie(s).

If you are making one tie, cut 2 pieces that are 15" x 3.5". I made 2 ties, so I cut 4 pieces out:


Iron them. I hate digging out the ironing board, so I used my hair straightener to iron these. It worked PERFECTLY!

Pin two pieces, so the good sides are facing each other and the back sides show. Sew all sides except for one:



Trim the corners and turn right side out. Then sew it shut. Remember I was making 2 ties, so in the 2nd image I have 2.


I found that the back end of a thick Sharpie helped me poke it through.

Fold it accordion style in thirds. That is the outer bow tie. Set aside.


Now for the center. Cut 2 little strips. Since I was making 2 ties, I cut 4 - 2" x 8" strips. Pin two pieces, so the good sides are facing each other and the back sides show. Sew all sides except for one skinny side. This is much like creating the outer part of the tie, but on a smaller scale:


 Turn right side out and sew the rest. It's harder this time around to turn right side out since it's little. I used a Sharpie marker to help me.


Loop this piece around the center of the accordion and sew the back. There's your bow tie!


You can pin it on, make a strap that has Velcro, or do what I'm doing next. I'm making a strap that buttons in the back. I figured I might as well utilize the buttons and button holes in Daddy's old shirt.

You can also make suspenders or a cool wrist band. I've thought about making cool wrist bands with black pleather and the same fabric from Daddy's old shirt. Like I said, I'm not a big sewing person, so suspenders may be too much for me. I could make them only if I sewed them directly to the shirt, then they'd serve no purpose. It would just be trendy.

For the record, finding plain shirts that are not Polos is darn right difficult! Almost everything for dress up is argyle for boys right now. I FINALLY found the boy's black shirts at Marshalls. WOO HOO!

So do you like bow ties? Daddy hates them. I like them. I would have dropped the bow tie thing, but Mica kept asking for one. He loves it! Isaak likes his to. I'll be showing more pictures on my WW. Stop back to see them! ;)

4 comments:

Eat To Live said...

LOL.... I wonder why Mica wanted a bow tie. That one is going to keep you hoppin with his sense of style.

You did a great job making it. These would make great bows for packages too.

~ Noelle said...

that is pretty cool!
Way to go on the bowtie... great work.

Liz Mays said...

So much easier than I thought it would be! I wish I had a sewing machine though. I could try things like this!

Moving London said...

I think that there are a lot of skill needed to do this, but it is quite a good idea for a mom to make her angel look so good!

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