I know, I know — a tie can be the ultimate in clichéd gifts for dad. But hear me out: The problem isn’t with ties themselves, it’s boring ties. Below is a technique for making a one-of-a-kind tie for that one-of-a-kind guy. Note: Lest there be any confusion, the photo below is not my dear ol’ dad, but my charming husband (“Mr. T”), who’s always a good sport when it comes to modeling my projects!
I have a history of making ties for my dad — not because he’s necessarily a tie-wearing kind of guy, but the school where he teaches has a dress code that states that all the guys have to wear a tie. It seems a little silly, given that he’s an art teacher and a tie dangling into a tray of photo developer or getting splattered with clay in the ceramics room is far from ideal, but he’s always embraced the tie with a great bit of humor and creativity. Though we couldn’t dredge up the handmade tie I gifted him when I was 7 (suffice it to say, I must have cut out the tie myself, too, because it was about 6″ wide and at least 6″ too short), I decorated it with felt pieces arranged into the shape of a smiley face. In high school, I was obsessed with going to the bead store, so I stitched some metal charms onto a black silk tie (above left). More recently, I embroidered the golden spiral inside a golden rectangle on the end of a tie (above right). But for my dad’s next tie, I’m using fabric paint. Here’s a project that a kid of any age can get into, and any dad will appreciate.
Materials:
-Plain necktie
-Image or pattern to turn into a stencil
-Freezer paper
-Pen or pencil
-Craft knife and cutting mat
-Artist’s tape
–Tulip Fashion Graffiti Paint Taggers fabric paint
–Round paintbrush (for stenciling)
Make it:
1. If you have the option, first tie the tie properly and mark the areas of fabric that will be most visible (it would be a shame to spend time on some delicate design only to have it hidden in the middle of the knot or under the collar). Otherwise, it’s wise to keep the design down on the widest part of the tie. (I marked my tie, but then decided to keep the design near the ends.)
2. Choose your design and print it out. My dad has always been fascinated by the golden mean, a naturally existing ratio of approximately 1 to 1. 618 (see the embroidered tie above) that is used to describe the relationship of many living things found on earth (it’s in the pattern of the seeds in a sunflower, the architecture of the spiral chambers in a shell, the growth of leaves on a plant stem, the ratio of hand to elbow and head to torso, and so on…). My dad even designed the house I grew up in using this ratio as the model. Then layer a piece of freezer paper over the printout and trace it. If you use letters or numbers (like I did), make sure you add the appropriate vertical lines to the type treatment so that when it comes to cutting and painting, you don’t end up with an “O” or a zero that’s missing its center. Use the craft knife to carefully cut out the stencil. Note: At this point, yes, I fully recognize that “#1 Dad” would have been far easier, but hey, it’s all about personalization, and he happens to be my “#1 to 1.618033988749894848204586343656 Dad.”
4. Arrange the stencil over the tie and tape it in place to prevent shifting. (I taped the front and back to make sure it was secure.) Note: Artist’s tape should peel off well, but test a piece on the back of the tie to make sure it won’t damage the fabric.
5. Adding very little paint at a time, dab the brush over the stencil. I picked a metallic silver paint, because I like the sheen and my dad can handle a little flair. To keep the paint from spreading underneath the edges of the stencil, hold the brush vertically so the bristles are perpendicular to the paint surface, and use a blotting motion.
6. When you finish painting (don’t forget the short end of the tie — I decided to incorporate the first part of the golden ratio there, but you could also hide any semi-secret message there), let it dry.
7. When the paint has dried completely, carefully remove the tape and peel the stencil off the tie.
7. Now it’s time to gift it. (Or convince your husband that he has to try it on this morning before he goes to work so you can photograph it before you pack it up and ship it off in time for Father’s Day on June 19!)
Variations:
-For different pattern ideas, try any of the paint or sticker techniques in my 4 Ways to Spray post.
-Forget the stencils altogether and freehand a design with fabric paint.
-Forget the paints altogether and glue on felt appliqués!
-Bonus points if you make the tie out of T-shirts!
Tags: DIY gifts, DIY necktie, fabric paint, Happy Father's Day, stencils
[ Posted on May 24th, 2011 ]
I LOVE this tie! I teach math and love any type of math creations! Great job, your dad will love it! 🙂
Megan,
I think this is fantastic! I like the touch of the “1:” on the back. Subtle and bold.
Dad
Good think you like it, Dad — guess what you’re getting in the mail soon! 🙂
Thanks, Jennifer — Though I was an English major through and through, I do love to let the inner math geek out from time to time!
Love the idea. So cute. Check out my t-shirt chip ties.
Nice! I different sort of tie! 🙂
If you iron freezer paper shiny side down, it will keep it in place really well and works excellently for stenciling. (I’ve only done it on tshirts, not sure how it would work on tie material)
Thanks for mentioning that, Ina! And you’re right, I chose against ironing it down simply because I wasn’t sure how it was going to react to the silk fabric (and the excess paint peels off the shiny side very easily if you plan to reuse the pattern!). But for other surfaces, it will definitely keep the stencil from shifting.
[…] A rather avant-garde self-portrait taken by my dear ol’ Dad shortly after he received the flashy Father’s Day tie I made him! (It features the numeric representation of the naturally occurring ratio of 1 to 1.618… […]
I have a question. I’m trying to DIY a 100% silk tie for a birthday gift to a friend. Do you think Tulip brand dimensional fabric paint should be fine? I was thinking of putting paint splatters on mine (mixing it with water to make it a loose texture). Reason I ask is because I don’t want to ruin the silk tie and read on many sites you are supposed to use fabric paint made for “silk”. Can you give me any advice? I don’t want the tie to be unwearable and harsh. Thanks for any help!
Hi Alison — If you’re interested in the splatter look, you might try the fabric spray paints from Tulip. In my experience, they work as well on silk as on other fabrics (the tie I used in this project was 100% silk, and I didn’t use special silk paints — though when I’ve done traditional painting on silk, I use silk dyes rather than paint). If you’re concerned, I would still test the paint somewhere inconspicuous on the back of the tie (inside the neck, maybe?) before applying it to the whole tie. And if you’re worried about the price of the tie, you can also fine really cheap ones at a secondhand store ($1 or $2) to test on. Let me know how it goes! -M
Hi, thanks for the advice! After looking in several stores, I finally found the spray on stuff. However, on the back it does say “best on white or lighter colored fabrics”.. my tie is black, do you think it will still work? The spray was kind of pricey so I hope it will work…but if not I can probably find some other use for it later. Thanks for the suggestion on trying it out on a thrift store tie first, I found a $2 black tie at Goodwill (I can believe they are $2 though, I found a lot of bad looking ties there! They should be more like $1, lol). Anyway, hope to try it out soon and hope this project will be worth it and my friend will end up not liking, but loving his personal gift! Haha!
Ahh, yes. A black tie will be a challenge to spray paint on… But test it on the Goodwill ties, and see what works. If not, save the spray for another project (the spray can be uber fun!), and work with the standard fabric paint to decorate the black tie. Good luck!
[…] love using words and type in my crafts (see exhibits A, B, C, D, E, and F…), so was super excited when some Scribbles Alphabet Stamps arrived in a recent crafty care […]