Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Mostly No-Sew Bowtie


I still have so much remnant fabric from my other "sewing" projects so I've been looking for ways to use it up.  I like this Baby Bowtie Sewing pattern because it is just cutting out rectangles.  It doesn't hurt that I've favorited about a hundred baby bow ties on Etsy, if I can make my own I'll save myself loads of money.  I can manage to cut multiple rectangles! Ultimately the construction is similar to that of the crochet bow ties I've made.  Start with a rectangle, sew together and the cinch in the middle.  Perfect!


I'm so lucky!  This remnant in the piece of my fabric is the PERFECT size (just cut out a little but that's fine.)


Rather than using snaps like listed in the pattern, I decided that I wanted to stitch (with my fabric glue) a neck band.)  I only cut out one piece (the long skinny one here) because I wasn't exactly sure how big to make it. My neckpiece is about 15" x just over 3" after I've trimmed it down.  I cut three versions of the black one because I wasn't sure what way I'd like the pattern the best.  I'll cut the neckbands later if I have to.


I'm simplifying the construction a tiny bit, which is saying a lot for a project that is pretty simple to begin with.  Maybe I should have actually measured and drawn lines... but it is close enough.  I have enough fabric to try making another one later if I need to.


Rather than cutting two pieces like in the other neckties I made, There are one piece folded over.   I should have pressed before using the fabric glue, but since I want the creases to NOT be where the seem is located, I decided to glue first and then ask questions later.  (again, if I mess up I'll try again properly.)

I "hemmed" the small pieces like the long ones.  If they're too long I can always trim it because the glue can't unravel.  Wahoo for fabric glue (Dritz Unique Stitch Adhesive!)


I flipped the tubes right side out and then pressed them with the seams in the middle of the back.  During pressing one of the little tubes got marked up, but since I had an extra I'm not that concerned.  But it is still strange that it happened.  I'll just make sure to take extra care when ironing this black fabric in the future.


Next, I glued each tube in half.  The seams on the back don't all line up with the center of the bowtie as they should if I were following the instructions properly because I arranged them the way I want the pattern to show up for the tie itself.  I like the size of the black and white ones better. (4.25"x2" vs 4.25" x >1.5")  I also think my neckband is a bit too thick for the blue one.


Up until this point I have only used liquid stitches to make these ties.  But when it came to assembling the bow tie, it was easier to use a needle and thread to secure the bow portion before gluing on the little strap.  


The blue neck strap I made is too thick.  I think I want to make the neck band elastic or maybe even figure out how to secure clips onto the ties.  For now I'm going to stitch the rectangles together but wait to put on the band around them until I decide if I want to get clips or elastic.  


I glued the small strip around the blue bowtie such that it could rotate.  This would allow me to insert any elastic or whatever I decided to do to the neckband later.  I pressed the large neckband in half to make it thinner and then slipped it through as a temporary way to model this on Lucky. I cut the center strip down to size after slipping the strap into place.  (Tip - secure a safety pin to the end to help slip something larger through.) 


Once again, I'm sitting here waiting for the baby to wake up to try on his latest accessory I created for him.  Thankfully Mr. Elephante was happy to model the blue bow tie for me while I waited.  


I've only photographed Lucky in one of the ties for now, but hopefully I'll get that elastic and dress him up in the others soon.  I really like how I got three very different ties out of the same black and white fabric.  Don't they look fun?  


These bowties are SO easy to create.  I easily could have banged out a bunch in an afternoon, but some of my indecisiveness forced me to spread this project out over a few days.  Now I'm thinking about a trip to the fabric store to make Mr. Lucky some more neckties.  Am I crazy?  Who knows, but maybe I'd find something fun in the remnants bin...