No Sew Adjustable Collar, Interchangeable Bow Ties

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Upcycled Bow Ties are cool!!

My oldest son wearing one of his Upcycled bow ties.

I'm sure I have mentioned this but I do not own a sewing machine...hopefully I will soon. My son wanted a bow tie for church and every other day of the week. I did a lot of searching and found a few no-sew neck ties and quite a few knit or crochet patterns.

No-Sew Adjustable Collar, Interchangeable Bow Ties

I found hopes and dreams blog. She gives a great 10 minute easy to follow tutorial on bow ties. I did my own thing with it and came up with these.

To make these beauties you will need:
Iron (To press in creases. I have used a straight iron for hair)
Hot Glue Gun (I used 2 sticks of glue with a mini gun)
Velcro (You may want to match your fabric)
Ruler
Scissors (I use a rotary cutter but sharp scissors are fine)
Fabric Marker
Fabric (mine is my sons favorite shirt from when he was 4)

To begin turn your fabric inside out and cut away seems, collars and button strips.
You will need to cut two pieces out. You will later make another cut so the "knot" in the bow comes from the same fabric. I normally cut near edges to get the most out of fabrics but I wanted this bow tie collar to have a specific pattern and the only length long enough was the very center of the back. For collars I cut the collar 2-5 inches longer than the neck measurement. (the more inches you add the more room for adjustment) This allows room for the shirt collar. My son likes a 15-16 inch bow tie collar. I cut his collar piece to be 17 inches long and 1.5 inches wide. The finished collar will be 17 inches long and .5 inch wide. I cut a 10 inch by 4 inch rectangle for the bow tie. (Subtract 2 inches if you are not going to use the same fabric for a middle wrap. The actual bow tie fabric is 8 inches long and 4 inches wide.) Once folded the bow tie will be about 4 inches long and 2 inches wide.

I centered the pattern I wanted visible and marked before I made the collar cut. I put the 1 inch mark where I wanted the middle of the collar to be.
You can do this with the bow as well. If you you are using the same fabric for the wrap you will want to measure 4 inches in from the opposite side of your wrap. I did not center this bow tie pattern. If I had I would have measured 4 inches out from the pink dot  to the left and 6 inches out from the pink dot to the right.



Lay both cuts with the right side of the fabric down and fold each piece length wise to the middle and press with iron. Cut 2 inches off the end of your bow tie cut and set aside for the wrap. (skip this cut if you are using a different wrap.)

Use the hot glue gun to glue the folds into place. Remember to trim strings with scissors. You might unravel more if you try to pull them off. I try to seal the strings with the hot glue before I trim them away. Set the collar aside and place your bow cut right side down.

Fold each side into the middle. Apply glue where the pink arrows meet.

Turn the bow over so you are looking at the front of the bow and find the center. Put a small dot of glue in the center and fold the bow in half length wise and pinch at the back center of the bow.







Apply another dot of glue on the back of the bow in the center top and the top middle to the glue and pinch. Repeat for the bottom.






Prepare your wrap the same way you did the collar and bow cuts. Fold top and bottom to the middle. Press with iron and glue the folds down. Apply a small dot of glue to the top back of the bow.With the bow right side up, press your wrap onto the glue. (Be careful not to get hot glue on your fingers. IT IS HOT.) Use glue to seal down the loose edges if needed. Wrap around the back side of the bow. If you do not want an interchangeable bow tie you can place the collar on the back side of the bow and wrap around it. I usually do not add glue to the back or bottom of the wrap. I might decide later to stick a headband or hair clip into the bow.
Apply a small line of glue on top of the start of your wrap and finish the wrap. To make your bow tie interchangeable, stick your thumb on the back of the bow and continue the wrap around your thumb. Apply a small dot of glue to take the wrap at the bottom back of the bow. Cut away extra fabric and use glue to seal the wrap edge.

Finish your collar with Velcro. Measure a length of 1-3 inches of Velcro.  A continuous piece will hold the extra collar in place.

Glue on piece on the front right side of the collar. Turn the collar over and glue the other piece of velcro on the left back side of the collar. 

Thread the collar through your bow tie and you are finished!!

I hope you enjoyed this upcycle! There are so many things to do with a bow let me know what you do with yours! Thank you for reading and I look forward to your comments.

This work by Jennifer@theupcyclingnanny.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at www.theupcyclingnanny.com