The Tale of Two Bow Ties

As soon as I started to show interest in sewing apparel again, my partner recruited me to up his bow tie stash. We used the BurdaStyle David bow tie pattern. Now I've made him two, reversible bow ties using scrap fabric and one brown bow tie from remnant fabric.

Above, he's sporting the reversible bow tie on New Year's, with a thrifted Saks Fifth Avenue tuxedo shirt (which set him back a whopping $1.99). The reversible tie had been his idea and it gives it an interesting look and texture. We realized, later, that Brooklyn Circus sports similar ties, though one side of theirs is in velvet. This was our prototype, so it's a bit droopy in the woven cotton, but I'd like to do it with solids and a stripe in something more silk-ish.

A note on the pattern: I can't find those damn sliders for the life of me (at least not in this size). So on the first batch, I stitched the two sides together and my partner managed to finish the ends. On the second one, I made it one long piece by measuring the neck (ours was 18 1/2 inches, though it turned out a wee big) and cutting two pieces on the fold.



When I sewed it, I left a 4-inch gap in the middle to turn the tie right side out. This gap can then be pressed and hand-stitched closed.

Marking the gap:


This was a polyester, satin-like fabric. It handled easily and is a lot perkier than the last.



I was a little dubious on the bow-tie coolness argument, but I think I've been converted. I even like it dangling open at the end of the night. So much more interesting than a regular tie loosened at the collar. It's something I typically only get to see on screen.



I also take comfort in knowing that it took him just as much time to learn to tie them as it took me to sew them (interfacing battles and all!). Thank goodness for YouTube videos!