For Father's Day

Andrew doesn't wear suits often, but he recently bought a new one, and a new dress shirt. But he didn't get a new tie so I thought I'd try to make one for him for Father's day. Yes, it's a bit of a lame Father's day gift. It might be the least original idea for a Father's day gift! But if it's handmade, that is something else all together, isn't it? I've been looking around for a tie pattern lately and found a few, like this one from the Coletterie blog, which I was planning on trying out until I saw that Sew Over It had a tie kit. It came with a nice dark floral print, but I decided to use some Liberty fabric I received in a bundle. I like the Liberty fabric but wasn't sure what I'd use this particular bit for. It looks nice with his new shirt, which has similar colors. It was sooooo easy to make this tie!
For some reason ties just seem like they'd be hard to make, but it wasn't. Having said that, I should say mine is not perfect either. I think to really get it nice and clean, you have to have some practice and be very good at precision ironing and precision stitching up (which I'm not). The kit included silk for the under bits, which went well with the colors of the Liberty fabric. The instructions were clear and easy to follow. I only wish the kit had included some kind of cotton or wool batting. It included interfacing but it really needed more cushioning to be wearable, otherwise just seemed like a fairly limp (thin) bit of fabric hanging from my fella's neck. (I wrote them to suggest including in the kit something that will give it more structure.) Update! They've included wadding in the kit! These photos below are before I added the cotton batting, but all I did was cut a piece that was the same shape as the tie itself, including going down into the points. I just cut it a little smaller than the tie to allow for clean folds all the way around. I would also suggest measuring the length of your pattern against a tie your guy already has (if possible) as mine turned out a bit shorter than his other ties. I didn't think to do this before I got to cutting!

This tie was one of the most rewarding things to make. I can't wait to make more! Now I just need to get Andrew to start wearing ties more often. I don't go on and on about him much on my blog, but he's a wonderful husband and father and deserves a whole lot more than a tie! Here he is looking happy and handsome getting ready for a BBQ last weekend. Happy Father's day!