Sunday, February 28, 2010

Tie Your (Bow) Tie


Bow Ties are one of my favourite accessories, especially since they are such a rare occurance where I am from. I taught myself to tie one and was surprised how easy it was to get. Lots of people say it's best to practice on your knee sitting down and I agree.

1. After adjusting the bow tie to an appropriate length (I usually go half a size smaller than my neck size, and leave it quite loose, but experiment and see what works for you), cross the tie at the top button of your shirt.

2. Take the tail that crossed over, and bring it under at the button so you have a tail going up toward you face and another hanging down on your chest.

3. With the bottom tail, create the fish shape so it looks like a bow tie. The smallest part should be at your top button, wit a loop on one side and an end on the other.

4. The top tail will now come down over the narrowest point of your bottom tail. How evenly and cleanly you do this will affect the end result of the centre of the knot. Again, experiment with what works. I leave mine quite loose, and as my bow tie is adjusted short, the centre piece comes out quite thick.

5. Here's the rub, now while you've got all this in your hands, you should find that the combination of the two tails have created a little loop in the back- take the fat part of your lower tail and loop it behind itself, and then push just that fat part through the loop in back. You need to go from loop side through to the end side of the bottom tail, so you end up with a loop and an end on each side.

6. Now it may not look right, but put your fingers inside the loops and fiddle around, and you should see the bow tie start to take shape. Get the loops and ends on both sides even and you should be good to go.. Practise makes perfect, so do it a few times on your knee, and before you know it, it'll be looking James Bond worthy...


Good Luck!

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