Tutorial: Bow Tie For Your Little Guy

When I decided to make the boys bow ties for Easter I scoured the web for a pattern & tutorial.  And wow, there are tons. But none were quite what I was looking for.  I wanted these ties to be the real deal. Ones that you have to actually tie *gasp*. I wanted to spend a little extra time to make them quality pieces that will (hopefully) get passed down to my children’s children or at least get used for both my sons for the next few years.  I wasn’t interested in a bow tie that I could whip up in five minutes or one that was comically large.  So, to get one that was just right I made my own pattern (after a few tries) and followed the instructions from Burdastyle.com David Bow tie for adults.

Learning from my mistakes. Or, practice makes perfect.

The plaid bow was my practice bow. I used too thick of interfacing making it hard to turn and little too bulky. Made from a 50 cent thrifted men’s shirt.

The brown bow was made from “stash” fabric that was too thin and slippery to make a great looking bow tie.

The pink bow was made from the perfect weight of fabric and interfacing.  Add in a few pattern tweaks from the first two ties and this last bow tie turn out great.

My bow tie pattern can be found HERE (designed to fit 6mo-3T with hook & slider closure).

Use in conjunction with Burdastyle.com’s David Bow Tie Instructions found HERE.

A few important points:

1. Bow ties need to be cut on the bias.  Besides the fact that diagonal stripes and plaids just look better on a tie, bias cut fabric folds/rolls nicer.

2. Bow ties need body. This is done by using interfacing. I used: Pellon Ultra Weft 860F “Truly tied” bow ties have more body as well.

3. Adding a bow tie hook and a slider allows the tie to be adjustable and makes it so you don’t have to tie it every time. Bow tie hook and eye slides can be purchased HERE.

4. My favorite tools to turn the tie: a chopstick to turn and a knitting needle for the corners.

5. You are going to have to learn to tie a bow tie. This is the video I used to learn how.

Many more little bow tie tutorials around the web:

A Lemon Squeezy Home – I like this one because the bow has body.

Prudent Baby – I like this one because she uses a hook and slider closure.

Make it & Love It – I like this one because she repurposes an old tie.

Polka-dot Umbrella – I like this one because button hole elastic is a interesting closure option.

Tagged as: boy