My wife took the kids to see the Pinkalicious musical today here in Portland. My daughter had a pink dress all picked out, but my son realized he had nothing pink to wear. So we quickly made this paper necktie together with an old cover of an Art Forum Magazine. It was very fast to make. We cut out the main shape of the tie, then glued on some strips of paper for the stripes, and trimmed the edges off. Finally, we took a paper clip and bent it open very slightly, and just taped it to the back of the tie. He was really excited to wear it. We might have to make some more in different colors and patterns now. Fancy!

If any of you have ideas or tutorials for other ways to make neckties (for kids or grown-ups), Let me know in the comments. I’d love to see them. I remember stumbling across a cool homemade tie sewing pattern once that looked quite fun.

13 Responses
  1. Hi Joel–I love the paper tie! Because I have two boys and love sewing, I’ve definitely experimented with ties (and vests and suspenders). I’ve appliqued ties to onesies using heat ‘n’ bond. I’ve sewed bow ties using a purchased pattern. I’ve also just cut a simple tie shaped out of two pieces of identically-sized fabric, put wrong-sides together, and sewed around the edges, securing an elastic from the tie’s knot. Then I wash them so they fray a bit. These are my favorite. (See an example here.) P.S. I just made your sun ray toy for my three-month-old! Thanks for all the great ideas!

  2. Nicely done!
    It’s so frustrating that there’s rarely anything pink for boys. That’s the power of the Pink/blue Marketing Machine, eh. Go pink-for-boyz (and other colours, sometimes, for girls ;-)

  3. Hello! I love your ideas on making fun and easy-to-follow crafts! I am spending a lot of time trying to come up with innovative ideas to teach my students too; your site is very helpful! Thank you for sharing!

  4. Just found you from Parents Best Blog Awards — and I am in shock that I hadn’t seen your blog before! You are brilliant – what an incredible site. Just spent the last twenty minutes looking at different posts and projects. Fabulous!