DIY Easy Mens Bowtie

I totally think men are the hardest people to shop for, i mean every couple of years i come up with some perfect gifts but really dads, brothers, husbands, uncles, grandfathers- they are all so hard to shop for.  My husband is particularly hard because i swear he doesn’t ever want anything and if he does he just buys it. Well today i have one small project that might just be the thing your looking for to give a man in your life next week for v-day.  How cute is a bow tie? really i should say how cute is a man in a bow tie? My cousin Alex had me make her boyfriend one for Christmas and while i was whipping it up i realized that its like the simplest sewing project ever and that i needed to give you a tutorial. Keep reading for the full photo tutorial

Supplies:

Print off the pattern HERE courtesy of makezineblog

1/4 yard of fabric

1/4 yard of medium weight interfacing (you can use fusible, i did not)

scissors

thread

Some type of small dowel/stick to help turn it right side out (a chopstick would be good)

Instructions:

1. Collect Supplies

2. Cut out your fabric- You need to cut 4 of your normal fabric (a back and a front) and 2 of the interfacing (just one layer of interfacing).

3. With the right sides of the fabric facing each other sew the center back seams at 1/4″.

4. Iron the seams open and then prepare your fabric to sew.  Lay your two pieces of fabric right sides together and then lay your interfacing on top.

5.  Pin all the layers together all the way around the tie.

6. Sew all the way around but leave a 3″ opening at the center back seam on one side of the tie, this will be your opening to pull it through so its right side out. Trim the corners close but not right at the stitch line.  (this is so you don’t have a lot of bulk when you turn it right side out and can get good points at the ends.

9-10.  Gently push your fabric up through the center with the dowel.  Don’t press too hard because you can poke a whole in your seam, just try to shimmy it up by pulling fabric down and pressing up.

11.  Once you see the fabric coming through the center grab it with your fingers and pull it the rest of the way so you can stop pushing and putting pressure on the seam.

12. Repeat to the other side and when its all pulled to right side out it will look something like that photo, a wrinkled mess. 🙂

13.  Take the same dowel or if you have a bone pointer and push it up through the tie to the ends and push it through to make nice pointed edges.

14. What it will look like after you push those corners out- better but still a wrinkled mess, so iron that baby!

15.  When you are ironing make sure to iron closed the opening you left by folding over the seam allowance so it looks like picture 15.

16.  You’ve ironed the opening closed, now just top stitch it as close the edge as possible- like 1/8″.

You might want to iron once more but after that you are finished! See i told you it was easy 🙂