Wednesday, June 17, 2015

A Bow-Tie in Celebration of a Fairy Godmother

Lucky's Godmother got married last fall.  Both Keith and I were in the wedding party, so I knew that we might have the opportunity for some amazing family photos.  Just in case, I decided to make Lucky a bow tie out of the remaining fabric from the hemming of my bridesmaids dress.


I got Lucky a tiny tux (Formal Black Tuxedo with Tail Cummerbund Bowtie Suit (Baby-Medium)) for the event, but I wanted to make him extra special.  The hemming of my dress came with a TON of fabric, both gauze and a more opaque fabic.  I would use both in this tie.



I cut an 11x2" piece of the solid fabric.  I knew that I could trim it down further if I needed to later.  I folded this into a loop.  Rather than using fabric glue, I decided that I would actually use a needle and thread for this project.  Surprise!  This isn't due to better sewing skills, but more that I don't have time to let the glue dry.


I took two 11" pieces of the gauzy fabric  and folded them over the opaque piece so no frayed edges would be visible.  (The edging of the gauzy layers on my dress is raw so I'm not worried about frayed edges here.


I folded this sandwich into a loop with the connecting edges in back.


I took two more 11" pieces of gauze and folded them in half, laying them on top of the previous sandwiched piece.


I stitched these three loops together and then cinched the center of the bow tie together by wrapping it with thread.


I removed the bow tie that came with the tux from the strap so I could use the same strap on Lucky's tux.  I secured my blue tie onto the strap by wrapping some extra gauze around the center and sewing it to the back.  I took care to not stitch through the strap itself since I might want to replace the original bow tie someday.


Voila!  A custom bow tie that matches my bridesmaids dress!  I didn't know whether Keith would wear a bow tie or a long tie with his tux, but if we were all dressed up together we would be a smashing family.


Thank you, Indy for trying on the tie while Lucky was napping!


In the end, we decided to let Lucky stay with a babysitter for the wedding itself.  Keith and I had a blast staying out late as only adults whose baby is home sleeping can!  Lucky did wear his tux and made a splash at the rehearsal dinner, even if we couldn't keep his shirt tucked in.  


I still got to have a lot of fun dancing with my boy!