Bow Tie Tutorial

howdy ya’ll!

my name is meaghan, and my blog (meg and the boys) is about my brood of boys, our silly times together and things we learn along the way.

i love for my little lads to look snappy, but i don’t want to spend a ton.  this year for easter, i whipped up some bow ties to accompany crisp white shirts and khakis that were already in their closets.  want to make your own?  get ready for a million pictures, but they’re super easy!  promise.  i mean, look how cute…

i started with two strips of fabric around 12″ x 3″

iron on a rectangle of double sided interfacing 3″ x 6″ to the center of the wrong side of your fabric (gingham has no wrong side)(easy)(inexpensive too).

you can pick this up at walmart, hobby lobby, joann’s…

lay your two rectangles on top of each other, paper side up, and sew around three edges like a pillow case.

then peel off the backing.

turn the whole thing inside out.

iron it flat to fuse the interfacing on the inside.
i don’t own an ironing board.  seriously.  i just use a beach towel on the floor…is that weird?

tuck in the open edges.

sew ‘em up together.

turn it inside out with the seam in the middle.  now you have a little tube.  that was easy right?

now we’re going to make a baby tube.  cut a single rectangle 2″ x 3″

sew it in half length wise

turn it inside out and iron it flat with the seam down the middle.  next sew the ends together and turn it inside out just like the big tube above.  make sense?  somehow i don’t have pictures of these steps! hmmmm…

accordion fold your big tube and slip it through your baby tube. please, please, please ignore my nails! i painted them that night.  promise.

hold your bow up to your wee little man.  it’s too wide though…stink.

sew it lengthwise .  then pop a pin on one end and pull it inside out.

align the seam to the back and iron it flat.

i searched my town for hook and eye closures, but ultimately had to order them online from here.  here’s how you thread it (remember the seam is the back and that’s what your looking at):

after threading it initially through he slider, add the eye and send the end back through the slider.

i couldn’t get the end to run through my sewing machine so i stitched it up by hand.

slip it through the back of your bow.

finish by adding the hook to the other end of the neck strap and sewing it on.

clip and done!

you can do that right?!?!

the boys say, “YES!”

yes you can.