Project Necktie

I apologize for the lack of finished garments this week - I still need to photograph them, which is the most challenging part for me. However, I would like to compensate for it by introducing a new project that makes a perfect Father’s day gift... custom neckties! 

As I found out during my recent trip to the Garment District, the idea of home-made ties is by far not an original one. In fact, there are literally swarms of well-meaning wives, girlfriends and boyfriends on a hunt for tie silk, interfacing and lining, snapping pictures of their finds and mailing them to their significant others for design approvals. 

Armed with the collective tie-making confidence level, I picked fabric for two new silk ties for Mr. Frabjous, which will be constructed using one of his beautiful but worn-out ties as a guide.

While sewing itself doesn’t take longer than an evening, there is some careful planning involved, especially if you are doing a tie for the first time. And since sharing the process with you, dear readers, is so much more fun, I decided to document it on this blog. I will start on Wednesday, May 4, and finish the project by May 20, which gives me two and half weeks to make two silk ties well in time for Father’s Day.

I will be re-creating a higher-end commercial silk necktie, using a standard tie construction method with a full-length interfacing, lined tip, and hand finishing.

Here is a quick breakdown of the upcoming necktie posts:

1. Necktie types and the anatomy of a tie
2. Notions & Tools
3. Choosing fabric and interfacing
4. Creating a pattern and a blade form
5. Cutting silk, interfacing and lining
6. Sewing: lining the tip
7. Finishing: folding and hand stitches

If you decide to join me on my tie-making feat, leave a comment here and I will make sure we will have an appropriate forum to exchange ideas, ask questions, share the images of our self-made ties so we can all ooh and ahh over finished creations. Now, how cool is that?