How I Turned a Man's Tie Into a Boy's Tie Without Using A Sewing Machine (Part 2)

Welcome back!  Time to finish up this boy's tie.

If you recall, in Part 1, I showed how to cut down the tie to the right size.  (After writing Part 2, I updated/simplified/improved Part 1 quite a bit and included a diagram of the measurements you need if you don't have a boy's tie to copy.  Go check it out!)

Today I'm going to show how to prep the zipper, "tie" the knot, and finish the zipper.

Okay, here's where we left off:

The next step was to prep the 14 inch zipper.  I wanted it to look something like this, but without the red binding (too much work!):

What I did was open my zipper and sew the top two sides together to make a loop.  It doesn't have to be pretty, but it needs to be secure.

I found that the sides of the zipper were too wide to slide comfortably through the knot of the tie, so I folded over the edges and sewed them down using a running stitch.

Sew down the sides all of the way to the bottom of the zipper.  You can leave the first three inches on either side of the loop open -- that part of the zipper doesn't need to go through the knot unless you have a very small neck on your hands!

Now here's where is got fun!  The following pictures are from my second attempt at doing this.  The first version worked out in the end, but the way I'm going to show you here is simpler.

If you are following along, before you begin the next part, get a needle and thread ready (knot the end of the thread and everything). Believe me, you'll be happy you did!

Earlier, I had put a pin to mark the top of the tie.

To get ready to make the knot, I unzipped the zipper about half way down to get the zipper pull out of the way.  Then, I took the tie and put it in front of the zipper with the extra fabric going through the loop.  (See the pin marking the top of where I wanted the knot to be.)

I pulled the extra fabric around the right side of the zipper loop.

Then around the front of the tie.

And around to the back.  (I held the tie in place as I went -- always making sure I could see the pin.)

Then, I made the bottom edge of the knot about as wide as I wanted it to be and pinched it with my fingers to hold it in place.

Try to make sure that the bottom edge of the knot horizontal -- this will keep the knot from being cock-eyed and help the tie hang straight!

Still pinching the knot, I turned it over to the back and sewed the spot where the two sides come together in the back.

Then I turned it back around to the front and removed the pin.

I took the extra fabric and pulled it through the front of the knot:

Finally, it looks like a tie!

I turned the tie around to the back and whipped stitch the back in place from bottom to top.

And before ending the stitching, I turned it back around to the front and tacked down the top of the knot -- hiding the stitches. You can see in this pic how I folded the top down a little in front to get deep in there where no one would see my work.

Almost done!

If  by chance you are crazy enough to follow along on this tie making adventure and have made it this far, you might be thinking "Gee Liz, this is wonderful and all, but have you noticed that there is a huge unfinished tail on the front of this tie???"

What???  Oh, you mean this?

It's the new look, doncha know?

No worries!  You can do what you'd like with the thing, but here's what I did.  I pulled on it.  That made the knot look scrunched for a second.

And then VERY CAREFULLY, I put the scissors right up next to the knot and cut off the extra fabric.

The cut edge disappeared right into the knot.  If yours doesn't for some reason, use your fingers and shove it up in there. (If it's being extra ornery, I suppose you might have stitch it up there somehow, but I really can't envision a scenario where that would be necessary!)

Tada!

Sorry dears, it's not done yet!  Gotta finish off the zipper.

I took a piece of the tie fabric and sewed it around the bottom of the zipper to hide the raw edges.

And then I put one of the original tags to good use by tacking it onto the back of the new tie to keep the zipper tail under control.  This puppy is "Treated with a stain resistant fabric protection" my friends!  Just the way I like it!

The tag is a tad crooked.  Oh well!

Finished back and front:

(The observant among you will notice that knot in these pics is different than the one in the tutorial -- as I mentioned earlier, my first attempt was not as simple as the one I just showed you.)

My Jack, who is 19 months old, wore this tie to the wedding last weekend.

He was not impressed, but oh-so-handsome!

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Let me know if I can answer any questions about the process.  Projects like this always look more difficult than they really are but I still have a lot to learn about explaining my sewing methods in ways that are easy to understand!