Baby Boy Neck Tie

When we found out we were having a boy, I KNEW I had to attempt to make him a lot of ties. You can see some of the clip-on bow ties I made here. They were super easy and took no time at all, so of course I was so excited to make a regular tie. I'll be honest, this is my first attempt and it didn't turn out as awesome as I would have liked, but for my first try it looks pretty good I think.

You can find the tutorial here. She doesn't exactly tell you how long you need to make the tie, and the pattern is somewhat ambiguous--I thought--so I think that was part of my problem, my tie was just too short. But overall it worked out well.

I found it impossible to tie the tie with the method she gave; I just couldn't get the little back piece to go to the back. I worked at it for about a half an hour and was ready to give up--I frustrate easily. I went to Google to try and find a different tie method and found this. Within a few minutes I was able to tie it okay; it's still a little lopsided, but like I said, i think that might be because my tie was too short to begin with. Her method, I think, is the same as the one above, it's just a little more clear.

Here's what I ended up with:

You can see how it's a little lopsided, both the tie knot and the bottom. Be careful to really make sure you trace the pattern as perfectly as possible. I didn't and I figured it'd be okay, but you can see how the corners are off a little. I'm hoping when he wears it it won't be so noticeable. It will be to me though, of course. But as a trial run, I think I did okay. I plan to use velcro to attach the back, but since we haven't a clue as to how big he'll be yet, I'm going to hold off on that until he's actually here. 

Tips:

• Follow the tie pattern as precisely as possible. 
• If you need to retrace, do it, because as you can see, it really makes a difference. 
• Don't get too frustrated if you can't get the tie tied. It took me at least 15 tries. And that's being generous. 
• If you, in fact, can't get the tie tied, don't ask your husband to help because he'll probably just grunt and say, "This isn't how you tie a tie!" Which, lets be honest, is SUPER helpful! ;-) 

Good luck, and if I attempt again, I'll let you know the results! 

Until next time, craftily yours,

NicholleLee.