How to Sew a Tie | Sewing Pattern Review

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Now, this is something I never would’ve thought of trying. Here’s how to sew a tie.

I was asked by a friend to make a number of ties for family photos. In addition, she wanted a bow tie and a hair bow to match. Finding anything online that all matched proved impossible and so she asked me to make them.

So I just needed to figure out how to sew a tie.

How to Sew a Tie – Sewing Pattern

First off, I had to find a sewing pattern. This was pretty easy as a quick google search came up with the Father’s Day Tie by Purl Soho.

This site provides the sewing pattern, as well as the instructions on how to sew a tie.

Fabric Suggestions

The pattern is drafted for woven fabrics. You’ll want something with a bit of substance to it. If the fabric is too lightweight, you could always add interfacing to it.

Despite the fact that a tie is long and skinny, it takes a lot of fabric because it is cut on the bias (diagonally). You will need 3/4 of a yard to make at least one tie. Luckily for me, I was making a few and so I was able to use up the amount of fabric.

In addition to the main fabric, you will need a lining fabric – actual lining or thin cotton. You don’t need a whole lot – these are literally just a couple of triangles on each end of the tie.

Depending on the weight of your fabric, you will also need interfacing. Now the instructions seem to think you need it, but I was using some medium-weight fabric that seemed to be fine without it. I think it all depends on the fabric you are using.

Sewing Pattern Review

If you are using interfacing, you would apply that first.

Figuring out how to sew a tie was easier than I thought. The tie itself is constructed from 3 pattern pieces that you join together to make a long length. This can be done easily with a sewing machine.

The fabric I used frayed a lot. Part of this is because it’s cut on the bias. I ended up serging the edges, once it was sewn together because it was driving me crazy. This actually ended up being a good strategy as it made it easier for the construction later on.

Believe it or not, the construction of the long length (sewing those 3 pieces together) is the only bit of machine sewing required! The rest is all hand-sewn.

Now I did not expect that so much hand sewing was involved. I’m not a great hand sewer, and so for me, it was a lot of work. It did not help that the fabric I was using was a dark colour, making it even more challenging to hand sew.

Some patterns have the lining partially machine sewed on. The pattern I used had the entire lining pieces hand sewn. I wouldn’t have minded trying to machine sew the lining pieces on, but unfortunately, I did not discover those patterns until I had already finished the ties.

The Purl Soho pattern did not include a tie keeper (the little loop in the back that you thread the tail of the tie through when wearing the tie). That was easily rectified by sewing a long strip and cutting it to link and then hand sewing it onto the back of the tie. I serged the edges and folded them under before sewing.

The ties turned out really well. It’s one of those things that you sit back and think – wow, I made that. Who would’ve ever thought of sewing a tie? I sure didn’t. Learning how to sew a tie was pretty easy.

These ties, along with the bow tie and hair bows turned out great. I bet they will look fantastic in the family photos.

For the bow tie, I used the pattern found here. I used the same bow and used my glue gun to attach it to the headband.

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