A Tutorial: DIY Bowties

Yesterday I shared a tutorial with you on how to make the above rainbow barrettes, which we gave to all the sweet girls at babygirl's 1st birthday party.  Next up, those adorable bow-ties we gave to all the little men at the party- so cute!  I also made a bow-tie for the hubs, which he sweetly wore all day!  Gotta love him.  :)

I scoured the internet looking for tutorials, and sort of synthesized a bunch, but this one over at lifeingrace is the one I used most closely.  As you can (kinda) see from the pic above, the top bowtie is a little bigger than the bottom one.  I made the hubs bigger, and the little guys' smaller.  I think the proportions worked on the respective fellows!

The fabric is the same fabric I used for babygirl's party dress (tutorial to come!).  I thought it was such a fun pattern and kept with the rainbow theme.  Of course I neglected to take pics of the sewing steps (common theme around here, right?!), but if you follow the link above she does a great job of giving step-by-step directions with pictures.  I deviated a little from those directions, and I'll do my best to explain how.

Step 1:
Cut a 24" x 3" (for a larger bowtie) or a 20" x 3" (for a smaller bow-tie) rectangle of fabric.  Also cut a 2" x 3" rectangle for the center piece.
*This is where I deviated from the tutorial, she suggests cutting 2 rectangles 12x3, using interfacing, etc.  I didn't have interfacing, and wasn't sure what the benefit would be (I'm a very novice seamstress!), so I decided to skip that and just make it easier on myself by cutting a 24x3 rectangle and folding it in half- one less seam to stitch!

Step 2:
Fold your rectangle in half (long ways, right sides facing in) and stitch along the two long sides.  Turn the rectangle inside out, tuck the raw edges in, and sew together (you better go take a peek at the tutorial cause I'm pretty sure I just totally confused you!!).  When you finish this step, you should have something that looks like this:

Turn that inside out, and put the seam to the middle, and then press with an iron, and it will look like this:

Step 3:
Take your 2x3 rectangle and fold in half (right sides facing) so you have a 1x3 rectangle.  Sew along the long side, and then turn inside out.  Fold in half so the 2 raw edges are together, stitch that edge, and then turn inside out.  (Yeah, you better go check out that tutorial again for pictures and a better explanation!)  When you finish, you should have something that looks like this (minus the pin):

Step 4:
Pinch the large piece together, accordion-style, and then slip that small tube over the large piece, and voila, bow-tie!!  Adjust your creases/folds/etc until it looks just right.

Step 5:
I decided to just use pins to attach these to the boy's shirts.  You could sew a neckband if you like, or you could use a proper bow-tie clip, but I went the easy route & used pins.  Plus, they were cheap.  I got a whole packet of them (like 20+) at Walmart for .97!!  Just use some nylon thread to stitch them in place, and you're all set!!

The finished product:

Aren't they sweet?!  The boys in the family dubbed themselves the Bow-Tie Club, so we had to get a picture:

You can tell there are several of us taking pics, because everyone is looking in a different direction.  Ha!  Also, can't resist one of this little cutie in his bow-tie:

The little guys really seemed to enjoy these, so they were well worth the few minutes it took to sew them up (very easy project!!).  It's probably good I don't have a babyboy, I'd be dressing him up in bow-ties everyday!!!

PS, just a thought, you could use a smaller version of this tutorial to make adorable hair bows, and then just attach a hairclip instead of a pin.  Hmmm.....ideas!!!