all dress shirts have barcodes PRINTED on them, right?
OK! You got me! I have to tie it on myself and slip it off to put it on him.
My son was in need of a tie for an upcoming wedding. He is the “Ring Guard”. He needs to wear a brown color scheme. I asked Hubs to take him out to look for a brown tie or something like that. Then, my parents came to visit and brought a pink wicker basket of ties with them.
Because who doesn’t need a pink wicker basket filled with ties? They also brought my wedding dress with them. Also, yes. We’ve been married for 15 years and my parents had my dress. Honestly, it was because our first place was a matchbox. But that doesn’t explain why they STILL had it 14 years after moving out of that tiny apartment… I digress!
Upon sorting through the ties looking at all of the prints, we came across a couple of ties that fit the brown bill! 4 of the same tie. Guess you can say it was a 4-way tie! *Shaking head* No. No you can’t.
Let’s get started!
I found my son’s old tie. I used it as a sort of template, and placed it on top of the adult tie.
Since the red tie is only small around the neck, I added an inch in length to the new one so he can grow into it. I cut off 10 inches from the bottom.
After that I unpicked some of the thread that held the two sides of the tie closed. I didn’t cut this thread since I figured I would still need those two flaps/blades to close back up. Then pinned the two blades open so I could work on the structure.
picky picky 
splay those blades! 
mark the middle 
get the interlining in shape!
Also, I found this diagram of necktie anatomy. Pretty cool!
Then I used the newly shaped interlining to fold the flaps back onto and pressed with a warm iron. I love my Chi iron! That’s right! it’s not just for hair anymore!!! Although I have that one too!
fold 1 
fold 2 (blade) 
pressssssss 
fold 3 for seam 
press 
fold 3 (blade) so the edge matches blade seam line & press
Next I removed the label which doubles as the keeper loop and opened the old portion to remove my tipping (the fancy fabric used to cover the seam in the tip). Seriously, check out the necktie anatomy!
picky picky 
picky picky 
unfold 
the VERY tip was sewn into the seam of the original portion. I wasn’t going to mess with that. So, I recreated the tip. 
press flat
Next I pinned it, trimmed it, and sewed it in place. I used a blind stitch going through the tipping and the under layer of silk… or current topmost layer of silk.
pin in place leaving a thin margin 
trim excess tipping 
stitch through tipping and 1 layer or silk 
don’t stitch the front fabric 
finished with a slip knot, but needle & thread still attached to the tie 
fold into position 
presssssss 
blind stitch the top blade down 
when you run out of thread, finish off with a slip knot tucked under the blade.
As you stitch the blade down, traveling UP the tie, you might run out of thread, like I did. You can finish stitching by using the originally picked (uncut) thread from the second step of deconstruction, and bring the stitches DOWN the blade. If you don’t need it, then create a knot under the blade and hide the thread tail.
Lastly, don’t forget to reattach the label/keeper loop
pinned 
stitched and final press
Finally, have your subject try it on.
I tried it on myself, but struggled to get it off over my gigantic noggin. Luckily, Son was patient with me as I practiced tying it on him.
For comparison, here are Hub’s & Son’s ties:
One more before and after. You can see the difference in width!
Confession: I wasn’t going to have him get all dressed up for the sake of taking a picture. If I remember, I’ll see if I can post a better picture of him at the wedding.
*Cheers my Dears!*
