The Burdastyle David Bow Tie

This project is actually from last month, but it took a while to get pictures, so you get to see it now. I actually have a ton of stuff to show you, since Mitch gave me a sewing day yesterday, but I still need to take lots of pictures. It'll come.

But today is about the tie. Mitch has been talking about switching from a long tie to a bow tie. The long dangly tie gets into everything. Anyway, I'd been kind of dragging my feet about making one. I was worried about interfacing and things like that. Finally, I decided to just bite the bullet and do it.

And he likes it! It isn't perfect by any means, but I did learn a lot making it.

Here is how it looks untied. You can see that there are sliders in back to make it adjustable, which was the trickiest part of the construction. It was actually really easy to make, although turning the two halves of the tie was a little tricky. 

The fabric is a beautiful slubby silk, given to me by a good friend. For interfacing, I scavenged interfacing from old ties, but I actually think this was a bad idea. I was using regular ties, and the interfacing for the RTW bow ties I have since examined is much thinner and more flexible, so this one was nearly impossible to turn right side out and Mitch has difficulty getting it tied.

The thick interfacing is especially notable in the area of the sliders, which makes it really hard to adjust. In fact, it's so stiff, that it ends up being impossible getting it to the length that Mitch prefers. He can get it tied, but it is a little tighter than he finds comfortable.

For a first attempt, I think it's not too bad. Mitch really loves the fabric and I learned a few things that should make the next one great. Fortunately, I have a bit more of this silk for version 2.0.