sew a bow tie

My husband has been wearing his bow ties to preach. It's caused, I think, a bit of a bow tie craze at our church... well, maybe not so much. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I came across this free tutorial from Prudent Baby that shows how to sew and assemble a bow tie for your own toddler or little boy. This was perfect timing to make one for Elliott's Easter outfit!

I had to make a few adjustments to the tutorial. It turns out I didn't have lightweight interfacing, so I ended up not using any. You can tell in the photos it is a little lopsided--and the missing interfacing is the reason. We could get it to look great, but as soon as he moved around it would be whopper-jawed. I also didn't have the hardware for a bow tie on hand. (Though I plan to look for some at my thrift store!) So I cut the collar strip in the back and sewed a couple of bra hooks to it! That part doesn't show anyway, and now it will be adjustable for when he grows a little bigger. The other thing I did was to add elastic to the strip, to add comfort. All in all, it was a success. And he loves it!