As you might have noticed (via various social media sites, and oh yeah, this blog post) that my hubby-mc-hubster celebrated a birthday last week. I love, whenever I can, to make something for him holidays. I like the process of trying to discern just the thing he would enjoy.

So this year, I decided that mah man needed a new bow tie. Oh, and while I was at it, I would make a matching pocket square and cuff links (those details come tomorrow).

This is how it went down:

Because this was going to be a one-size-only-fitting-Fred kind of tie (aka, not adjustable), I knew that I would need to make double sure that it would fit him. So, I grabbed from our closet one of his ties that I knew he has worn multiple times (and checked the others to make sure they were similarly adjusted)

To make your man (or yourself!) a bow tie:

What you need:

A owned & loved bow tie
2 fabric "quarters" from the craft store (or half a yard)
Thread
Pattern-making fabric
Lightweight fusible interfacing
Ruler
Pencil
Iron & ironing board
Straight pins
Hand sewing needle

What to do:

1. Fold the tie in half and lay over the pattern making material. Trace.

2. Using a ruler, mark all the way around 5/8ths of an inch from trace mark.

3. At top of new measurements, and 5/8ths of an inch above fold line of original tie, mark diagonal line for bias seam. (forgive the multiple lines- this one took me a few tries to get right)

4. Cut out the pattern where you made the 5/8th inch markings.

5. Fuse the interface to the wrong side of the tie fabric, following the directions on the package.

6. Cut out 4 identical pieces, using the pattern.

7. Taking two pieces, pin them together, right side together, at a 90 degree angle so that the seam will result in even sides (see picture). Do this twice.