Little Boy Bow Ties: Part 2

Yay! More bow ties! I tell you, friends, these things just make me happy! So in Little Boy Bow Ties: Part 1 I showed you how to make the bow part, and promised we would discuss the tie part later. Well it's later. Aren't we excited?
There are several ways you can make the neck strap for your bow-tie. Today I am going to show you how to make an adjustable strap using bow tie hardware. The hardware is not really easy to find. I searched my fabric stores and came up empty... searched online and didn't find much, but I finally found what i was looking for HERE, and I thought it was pretty reasonably priced. Shipping was fast and I am pleased with the product... so there you go!
Anyway, if your fabric store is better than mine or you happen to get your hands on some bow tie hardware, this is my fav method. easy on and off and adjustable for a good fit. Each hardware set has three pieces, a hook and eye, and a slide. You'll see how it works...

The hardware I have allows a 3/4" width for you fabric band. So I cut a piece of fabric 15x2.5 inches

(don't be like me, trim your selvage, please.)
Fold it in half length wise, right side together and sew (.5 inch seam allowance)

(again... don't be like me. Measure, pin, all that stuff my mom taught me how to do that I ignore forget sometimes.)
I like to iron my seam open before turning it right side out.

Turn your long skinny tube right side out (I used a safety pin attached to one side, fed through the tube, and then pulled out the other side) Press.

I didn't put my seam right on the edge... though I would recommend right on the edge, or in the middle. This will be on the back side of the band... it probably doesn't matter, do what you like!
At this point your bow is made... but you haven't tacked down the center of the bow tie... so you can just feed this piece through the back.

Don't tack that in place yet! Okay... get your little hook...

You'll want to fold that raw edge under and... (um, please ignore my lovely crunchy dry cuticles.)

Sew in place. Your sewing machine may be lazy like me! like mine is, and yell at you about sewing through that many layers of fabric, but you can tell it to suck it up and do it's job. That's what I told mine, at least. I kinda almost helped. Next you are going to put the slide on the other end... (see the arrow?)

(note that we are looking at the back side of that strap, and you can see 1 bar of the slide. On the front side you can see two of the bars) And then load the 'eye' piece on after that.

And then you will loop the strap around and go under the one bar of the slide a second time. (not really difficult to do, just difficult to photograph...) See the arrow pointing to the slide?

That short piece sticking up you are going to tuck the raw edge under and then sew it down... (again, awkward to photograph.)

Do you see the slide in there still? Note that you are just sewing the loop to itself, not through the rest of the band... you should be able to more the slide along the band to adjust the band size when you are done.
And then... you tack the bow to the band (a little off center closer to the hook side so you have plenty of adjusting room.) and...

Admire your lovely finished product: A fully adjustable, fully adorable bow tie for your favorite little man. YAY!

They are just so fun. Oh... and... try not to squeal out loud when you realize that cute black and white print bow tie is... what is that print??? Is that text? What th--

It's totally a MOO bow tie. Fabric remnant compliments of my MIL. I die. Serious cuteness and hilarity and genius all going on here in one tie. LOVE.
Anywho... hope you will give this bow tie method a try, it makes for a very nice, professional look. Let me know how yours turns out! :)

Little Boy Bow Tie

I don't have kids. I might some day. When I do, there are two things I desire more than anything else in my children. One I have little control over one (please please PLEASE Lord, I really want red-heads!) and the other I have quite a bit of control over (at least for the first couple years of their lives...) and this one is a desire for my children to be handsome and well-dressed. I'm thinking nothing but bow ties and sweater vests. Oh, and suspenders. And blazers with little patches on the elbows. But most definitely bow ties. Every day. They can wear jimjams to sleep in-- but if not sleeping-- bow ties. I'm serious.
I love little tiny boys dressed as little tiny men. LOVE it. There are so many ridiculously cute ways to wear a bow tie-- we just need more of them in our lives, my friends! I'm bringing it back, hardcore!

Anyway. My fav little boy, Dawson, turned two, and had a shocking lack of bow ties in his wardrobe. That had to be remedied.
So here's what we did to fix that:

I started with a scrap of fabric... I really loved these multi-colored stripes, but I wanted the stripes on the Bias, which of course uses up a larger portion of fabric. I had to do some piecing together to make it work, but I was able to hide all seams. (You can see I am using the quilter's square my Granny gave me-- that thing is invaluable, even when i am not quilting! Thanks Granny!)

 I cut two strips 15 inches by 3.5 inches. Pin right sides together and sew all four sides with a straight stitch. Leave a two inch opening on one of the long sides to turn it.

Clip corners and turn right side out. Iron... and hand stitch that 2" opening closed.

You know have a long skinny rectangle, fold it in thirds accordion style, as shown below. Cut a strip of fabric 5 inches by 2 inches. Fold right sides together lengthwise, and sew along the long side of that... and iron flat. Then fold in half again and sew a seam 1 inch from the fold (pictured below-- sorry for limited picturage of these last few steps, I wasn't thinking...?) I trimmed off the excess... then turned that inside out again.

 Now fold up the (already folded) bowtie and feed it through the small loop you just made...

 VIOLA! Okay, I added a strap to it... you can add a strap that secures with Velcro, slides, or a bow tie clip. We'll discuss these options at a later date. (the one pictured has a strap that secures with Velcro-- just in case you cared)

Cute, no? It looked super cute on my friend Dawson. I think there will be more bow ties in our future... Yes?

(Hey... it's a BOY project. Have you guys seen Celebrate the Boy on MADE? It's an inspiring an much-needed series of all handmade 'boy stuff'. Check it out! )

CHECK OUT Little Boy Bow Ties: Part 2 for a tutorial on an adjustable strap!