Sweet November: Tie Necklace Tutorial

Well hello! Today's tutorial is one that I had originally planned to post last year but for whatever reason it never made it to the blog. Now that it is cooling off (it was only 86 here today!) and Fall is on it's way, eventually, I thought this tutorial would be a good fit for our Sweet November week! 

Getting started, you'll need to find a tie. Instead of going through my husbands tie collection, Chase and I went to a Goodwill store where there were way  more to choose from than what Peter had hanging on his side of the closet. That's where I found this great Italian silk tie! When looking for your own tie, just be sure to find one where the material isn't too thick, it should be easy to fold.

Here's what you'll need to get started! 

Materials

sewing machine 

tie

2 pieces of lace (mine measured about 10 inches each)

straight pins

large button (optional)

vintage pin

sewing needle and thread

Directions

1. Start but laying you tie flat on your work space. Take the bottom of the tie and fold it back towards the middle of the tie. You want to make about 5 pleats or folds, so my first fold measured 4 inches. Each fold, will get a little shorter in length as you go.  

Once you've folded your first pleat, use a straight pin, on the inside of your tie, to secure your pleat. Continue folding and pinning until you have 5 or 6 pleats. *You'll notice that as you're folding the tie it will start to curve inward, almost like the shape of a necklace!*

Once you've finished pinning, now it's time to start sewing. Slowly sew along the inside edge of your tie. As you sew remove the straight pins and set side - we'll use them again for the lace. 

When you reach the last pleat, backstich a few stitches and then cut the sewing thread. After this step, your tie should look like this. If your pleats aren't laying flat use an iron to press them.

Now time for some lace. I'm using a black lace that's gathered on one side. Take the gathered side and following your existing sewing line, pin the lace to the tie. I pinned a small amount of lac to the back of my tie to start.

Just like sewing the tie previously, carefully sew the lace to the tie, removing the straight pins as you sew.

I'm adding one more piece of lace, I found this stretchy lingerie lace that was too cute and dainty plus I loved how ruffly it was! Follow the previous steps for securing and sewing the lace.

Almost done! Now you'll need to measure your tie and decide how long and where on your neck you'd like it to fall. Once you've decided, trim off the extra length of the tie. Fold over the material on the end of the tie and sew close. 

We're all done with the sewing machine now! There are a couple of ways for securing the tie to wear as a necklace. I used a vintage metal pin to to pin the ends together. You could also sew in a metal snap to the back of the tie.

For the top of the tie, I went ahead a sewed a large gold button on for an added embellishment. I like the way it looked, but you could also use a flower or even another small pin. 

Hopefully I took enough photos of the process! It's another one of those lazy weekend projects, plus it's always fun to have a reason to go thrifting!  

Jessica has a Pretty Place setting posted today on her blog that you don't want to miss! I have her idea for napkin rings filed into my 'must make list!'