Tutorial - big bow tie

Welcome to my first Page 63 tute. Just in time for Halloween, here is how to create a big bow tie al la Cat in the Hat.

You'll need the bow tie material, I've used poly cotton here. You'll also need thick interfacing, as thick as you can get, I prefer iron on as it's faster. Then you'll need some bias binding to tie in on at the end.

And off we go!


For the Bow bit, you'll need a piece around 60cms by 10cms. Iron or attach the interfacing, then fold both ends in and overlock down the long open sides. The Tie bit is around 30cms long and 12cms wide. Fold it in half and overlock down the long end. Above is one just sewn and then one turned inside out. Guess what the next step is!

Turn both inside out ;)


Here are all the parts of your bow tie. The Bow and the Tie, then around 90cms of bias binding and a small piece for the middle of the Bow (called, for our purposes, Middle), around 10cms long and 6cms wide.

Grab the Middle. Fold each of the lengthwise sides into the middle, put a couple of stitches across the gap to keep it folded.

Turn the Bow over, and lay the bias binding across the bow. Gather both Bow and bias binding in the middle, wrap the Middle around the gather. Stitch the Middle closed, making sure you stitch the bias binding in at the same time.


Fold the Tie in half (making sure it's on a little bit of an angle rather than perfectly aligned) and stitch the fold to the back of the Middle as in the photo.

The last step is to trim the bottom of the Tie, I used pinking shears but if you dont have them, cut it into a small 'v'.

And that's it.