Tag Archives: bow tie

DIY No-Sew Bow Tie

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So the bow tie saga continues, haha. As promised, the other night I got down to it and created an adult sized bow-tie for J. You guys, IT CAME OUT AWESOME! I could not believe the side-by-side comparisons with his store-bought bow tie. Another reason I am so excited about this is because I was extremely skeptical about this project. A bow tie for baby P is one thing, he’s a baby and would look cute if you ripped up a paper bag and glued it to his pajamas (lol), J on the other hand, is a working professional who would need to be seen in public wearing this creation, and no man of mine is gonna walk around wearing the bow-tie equivalent of a first grader’s pasta necklace, haha. That being said, I did have a little hope, since before I had decided to take on this project I was sure to carefully inspect our store-bought bow tie to see if it was even worth attempting and if I could get away with a no-sew option of course. So the other night I put Nashville on Hulu (still not sold on this show, I don’t know why I keep watching it lol) and got to work! This bow-tie took me about 45 minutes to create, mostly because I was making it up as I went along, so don’t worry, if you decide to attempt this it will probably take you about a half hour, which I consider a super quick project, especially considering you’re getting an actual wearable accessory out of it!

Now let me talk a little about cost and being “fashionably frugal”, if you will. My original idea for this bow tie goes all the way back to last Father’s Day, when at six months pregnant and over the moon about our sweet little boy on the way (we had just found out we were expecting a boy), I purchased a matching father/son bow tie set via Etsy as a gift for J. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the Etsy bow ties, the workmanship is perfection as is the quality of the fabric, however, I am embarrassed to admit what I paid ($53.00 .. gahhhhh, insert wahh face and money with wings emojii). I don’t mind that I splurged since I blame it mostly on pregnancy hormones lol, and since it was the kind of bow tie that you have to tie yourself that means it was sewn and we all know I’m no seamstress. Well, as luck would have it, a few months ago I found J a great pre-tied tie on Groupon for $4.99 (with free shipping, say whaaaaaat?!). The kicker is J actually prefers this cheap-o tie to the one that you have to tie yourself, and I can’t say I blame him since it always looks perfect, no need to scroll through YouTube videos trying to remember how to tie a bow tie, haha. This Groupon tie gave me the idea for a DIY version, the idea being, I had already made one for baby P, how hard could it be to recreate an adult version of the same thing? Back to the cost of the tie, if you think $4.99 was cheap, try $0.96!!! Yup, ninety-six cents people, now bare in mind that I was using fabric that I already had since I was matching it to baby P’s bow tie, so all that I needed to purchase was the tie clip, but if you’re frugal with your fabric choice the most this project will cost you is in the neighborhood of $3.00, sounds fab right?

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Cheap-o inspirational Groupon bow tie, super cute! This is the one J wore in our family pics!

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Side by side comparison in case you don’t believe me, lol.

Now for the tutorial, and pictures aka important proof that I’m not lying to you about this no-sew bow-tie that your man can actually wear in public and still be considered an acceptable part of society lol. I promise I will post pictures of J and P wearing their matching bow-ties, but since I’m going to include this as a gift in J’s Father’s Day package the pics will have to wait until then, I just had to post this pronto because I was so excited about it!

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Father/Son Matching Bow Ties .. awwwww!

YOU WILL NEED: 

  • Fabric of your choice (you will not need much so like I always say, this is a great opportunity to hit up the remnants bin at your local fabric store or reuse some fabric that you already have).
  • Iron-on hem (heat ‘n’ bond, stitch witchery etc. Whatever brand you use is fine)
  • Bow Tie Set (this can be found by the buttons at your local fabric store, if you cannot find it as a set the employees should be able to direct you to each piece individually or you can purchase it online)
  • Glue Gun
  • Scissors
  • Iron

DIRECTIONS:

NOTE: Explaining the step-by-step directions is a little difficult as there are many small steps, but if you follow the pictures the wording will make a lot more sense, feel free to ask questions. 🙂

Step 1: Begin by measuring out and cutting your fabric. You will need the following:

  • 1 piece measuring 2.5X2.5 inches
  • 2 pieces measuring 9X5 inches
  • 1 piece measuring 24X1 inches
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2nd piece of large fabric not shown, oops.

Step 2: Use the following tutorial to begin to create your bow ties by following steps 1-5 only and repeating steps 1-4 twice as you will need to “bodies” for your bow ties (I will explain in the following steps). I used hot glue for all parts, no sewing.

Step 3: Take the two identical rectangles that will act as the body of the bow tie, and use a dot of hot glue in the center to glue them together, seam side down on both. Now, pinch the rectangles together at the center to form a “bow” once you have achieved a good bend to the fabric, use a few dots of glue to secure it at the center (as shown). Do not attach the middle piece yet, you will need to complete the strap first. bow5
Step 4: Now, begin work on your neck strap by taking your 24X1 inch long piece of fabric and lay it out flat with your print side facing down. Carefully fold in each edge (longways) so that they meet in the middle (as you did with the other pieces), and iron over the folds (this will help to hold it in place evenly when you insert the iron in adhesive). Once you have ironed the length of the strap it should be about 1/2-3/4 of an inch in thickness, however, the thickness doesn’t really matter so long as it is straight/even as possible. Now, cut a piece of iron-on hem the same length and about the same thickness (a little thinner is fine, it just needs to fit within the strap), place it inside the strap, refold the sides so they are covering the adhesive and iron the fabric until the adhesive sets (just about 5-8 seconds per section). Once this is complete your strap is ready for clips! bow2 bow4
Step 5: Begin with the rectangular three bar clip (I don’t know the technical term for it lol), feed one end of the strap through about half an inch, upside down (hem side facing up) and loop it over securing it with a dot of glue. Now in the same direction feed the rectangular attachment (the one that the hook will attach to), over the long end. Then feed the length of the strap through the three bar weaving it under, over, under so it overs the part where you looped the first end. Now your strap is adjustable!

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The girl at the counter loved my squishy baby so much that she gave me a 40% military discount instead of the usual 20% 🙂

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once you are finished adding the first two metal pieces, the end of your strap will look like this.

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Step 6: Now, to the remaining end of the strap attach your hook by looping it through about a half inch and securing the end to the body of the strap with a dot of glue (make sure the hook is facing the hemmed side and test it out to make sure it will hook into the opposing piece).
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Step 7: You are almost finished! Now return to your bow tie. Remember that 2.5X2.5 piece that you did a little work on and forgot about? Grab that. Take your bow tie, hem side facing up and glue one end of your little 2.5″ piece to it (be sure the piece is facing down so that when you wrap it around the body of the tie the correct side of the fabric will be showing). Now that you have one side attached, before wrapping it around take the hook-side of your strap (front side down, hook facing up) and use a dot of glue to attach it to the back of the bow tie so that just the hook will stick out once you wrap the rest of your fabric piece around. Once your strap is securely fastened, wrap the remaining piece of the fabric to create the center of the bow around and secure it using a dot of glue atop the strap. There you have it, all done!!! For kicks tell people it’s from H&M lol.    bow12 bow13
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Disclaimer: This is something you are making yourself using just a glue gun and some fabrics, I can’t promise you name brand quality,  nor can I promise that it will turn out perfectly. If you are a brand snob sorry if I’ve offended you with my DIY clothing attempts, although I’m not sure what you’d be doing on the section of a blog entitled “Fashionably Frugal” lol.

DIY Little Man Onsies with Interchangeable Bow Ties

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Who doesn’t love a tiny little baby boy dressed up like a man, right? I for one, LOVE dressing baby P up like a man (he’s looked like a little mini man ever since birth, kind of weird and cute at the same time lol), and even before I had met my little guy my Etsy shopping cart was filled with cute little onsies with tie appliques and little bow ties. Only problem was, I quickly realized that at between $25 and $35 a pop (for a onsie, really? lol), my full blown little man wardrobe was going to have to wait until I hit the lotto, haha. Luckily, I was able to find a few little man onsies on clearance and be gifted a few others (a lot of them are featured in his monthly and holiday pictures) but I still was left wishing that there was a cheap way to get my hands on some more little man clothes!

Flash foward a few months, some friends and I are planning a “little man” baby shower for one of our girlfriends who is expecting a little boy. I thought it would be so cute to recreate the adorable onsie clothesline that my girls had displayed at my shower, but with little man themed onsies. Obviously the same problem of these little man onsies being so damn expensive presented itself once again. So I began to wonder if there was a way I could actually make these myself, without them looking like crap, that is (haha) – it turns out there was! Since I don’t sew other than by hand (learning to use my sewing machine is on my long list of things to do lol), it never occurred to me to make these onsies myself, but after a little research on Pinterest and inspection of items I already had, I was able to come up with my own variation of a little man onsie using, cheap fabric, hot glue and my limited sewing skills. So with limited expectations I got to work and was absolutely thrilled with the result of my project and definitely had a few “holy-crap-I-made-this?” moments throughout lol. Not only will I be able to use these at my friend’s shower, but I now have a home-run of a gift for any of my family and friend’s future baby boys (or girl for that matter, these can be hairbows too, say whaaaaat?!). I also plan to make hundreds (okay, maybe not hundreds, but a lot lol) of these for baby P until he no longer wishes to wear bow ties (which hopefully is never since he is a little man, lol), starting with the one he will wear for his Father’s Day picture.

Give this craft a shot! If you have zero sewing skills you can still make it work, I promise! If you need more of a reason than how adorable a little man onsie is then here’s another – a onsie and six interchangeable bow ties cost me about $3.00 when you break it down (compared to an average of about $22.00 per onsie on Etsy, usually including only one bow tie), so cost-wise it’s a no-brainer!!! NOTE: I also plan to make a matching bow tie for J, I just have to mess around with the bow tie tutorial to figure out fabric measurements for an adult bow tie but once I do I will post my own tutorial!

LITTLE MAN ONSIE & BOW TIE

*The use of Velcro or Nylon snaps is totally up to you, if the child is over six months and you know how to sew by hand I would suggest the snaps, as they are less easily removed by the child, lol. Velcro is still fine though, I found that baby P was more interested in the buttons than the bow tie.

MONEY SAVING TIPS:

  • Hit up your fabric store’s remnants bin, a 12X12 square of fabric that cost under $1.00 was enough for me to make about 6 bow ties!!!
  • Since you don’t need anything fancy use the cheapest brand of white onsies you can find, I believe Walmart carries a Gerber brand 10-pack for around $8.00.
  • Use cheap buttons, this works well anyway since cheaper buttons will be more plain and you want the color/style to work well with multiple bow ties.

YOU WILL NEED: 

  • White Baby Onsie
  • Hot Glue
  • Fabric of your choice
  • 2-4 buttons of your choice (amount depends on size of button)
  • Needle & Thread
  • Sew on Velcro or Sew on Nylon Snaps (if you are not planning on sewing at all, you will need to use Velcro)
  • Fabric Adhesive (you only need this if you are not sewing at all, make sure the label says “washable” meaning the item can be run through the washing machine after the glue has been used)
  • Ruler or Measuring Tape

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Use this bow tie tutorial to create as many bow ties as you want. I used the hot glue method and wherever it said to iron I didn’t (I’m lazy, lol) and my project still came out great. Important Note For Nylon Snap: If you are planning on attaching a nylon button adapt the previously mentioned tutorial to include the following instruction for attachment of the nylon snap. When you are gluing the smaller 2.25X2.25 piece in half place a very small dot of glue on each end and the middle (as opposed to just putting a whole line of glue down the seam), you want a space near the end where glue will not obstruct your needle once hardened. When securing your small piece to bow part of the bow tie, use a dot of glue to secure the one end, then using a needle and thread, sew the half of your nylon snap to the opposite end, so that when you pull it around and secure it, it will be facing out on the back of the bow tie where you would snap it to the onsie (see blue gingham bow tie pictures). Important Note For Velcro: If you are attaching velcro simply follow the instructions for construction of the bow tie to the end, once the bow tie is complete, use a dot of hot glue or fabric glue to attach a piece of velcro to the back of the bow tie. Here are some pictures I took as I went about making my bow ties.

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this is the washable fabric glue that I used to apply the velcro

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I used velcro dots but if it is cheaper to purchase velcro in a roll or larger piece you can just cut it yourself. The nylon snaps are shown as well, I chose these as opposed to metal snaps because they don’t require a special tool to attach them to fabric.

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Velcro placement

Velcro placement

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nylon snap method

nylon snap placement

nylon snap placement

Other bow ties not shown on onsies.

Other bow ties not shown on onsies.

Step 2: Once you complete your bow ties, you are ready to work on the onsie. For Nylon Snap: Find the center of your onsie, I placed mine about 3/4 of an inch down from the top of the neck, but use your own judgement as to what you think looks best. Use a needle and thread to attach the connecting piece of your nylon snap to the onsie. For Velcro (No-Sew): Find the center of your onsie, I placed mine about 3/4 of an inch down from the top of the neck, but use your own judgement as to what you think looks best. Use your washable fabric glue to adhere the connecting piece of velcro to the center of the onsie, it will probably need to dry for about 24 hours. Do Not use hot glue for this part, if you do not use a machine washable glue your velcro will probably fall off in the washing machine. I used a few stitches to secure my velcro after I glued it for further security but if you are going with the no-sew method that is fine too.

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Plain white onsie

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nylon snap placement.

Step 3: After attaching your velcro or snaps, you can work on the buttons. Use a measuring tape or ruler to mark the areas on the onsie where you would like to attach the buttons. I used three buttons for medium sized buttons and two buttons for larger buttons and placed them about two inches apart (measuring from the button center). Use a needle and thread to attach your buttons. If you are not sewing you can absolutely skip this step, the onsie looks just as cute without buttons! I suppose if the onsie is for a newborn or very small infant (aka one that doesn’t have the capacity to pull the buttons off and eat them lol) you could glue the buttons using washable fabric glue, however I have not tried this myself, if you do attempt it let me know how it holds up!

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Ta-da!!!!

Ta-da!!!!

Enjoy your onsie!!! For care turn inside out when running through the washing machine, and for best results hand wash and hang dry when possible.

My squishy baby rockin the onsie!

My squishy baby rockin the onsie!

He seems to be happy with it :-P

He seems to be happy with it 😛

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