Happy Father's Day, Dads In My Life

     Father's Day has rolled around again. Hmm, what would David's dad like? He recently met his new great-grandson. He thought the baby was a "dandy". haha  So we thought a photo would be a good way to remember that day.

     Okay, what to do for my dad. The man who has everything, except this:

     Isn't this the most precious thing? My daughter took these pictures of her new baby's tootsies. I thought Great-Grandpa would be tickled with this. Will be getting this to him soon.

So, now what to do for my husband...

     My daughter was making bow tie and necktie tshirts and onesie for her husband and baby. I thought that would be a fun thing for David, too.


This is how I made a necktie fusible applique.

     Making a fusible applique is easy. Start by drawing your pattern on freezer paper. Regular old supermarket freezer paper works like magic to make appliques. Iron it on the right side of the fabric. A paper-backed fusible product needs to be ironed on the wrong side of the fabric. Some brands to look for are Wonder-Under, Trans-Web, or Heat and Bond. Check with your local fabric or craft store for the appropriate product to use on your project and follow the manufacturers' instructions to achieve the best results. I think I used Wonder-Under, but I'm not exactly sure. I bought what was left on the bolt because I had a 40% discount coupon from Hobby Lobby and I don't have the label.

And a TV remote is essential.

5 yards is a lot, but will last quite a while.

     So, iron the fusible product to your fabric. Dry iron? Steam? Again, be sure to check the manufacturer's instructions. Let it cool (if too warm, the glue can stick to the paper and not your fabric. Grrr!) and cut out your pattern. Remove the freezer paper. It leaves no sticky residue on the fabric AND it can be used again and again. Good stuff! Now remove the paper from fusible product. Arrange the pieces of the applique how you want it on the project. Be sure you like it, because once you press it down, it's pressed down. Some products allow you to take it up and move it, but I've never had good luck with that. I tend to be a perfectionist with this kind of thing, so it HAS to be right before ironing.

Still working on positioning that wide top flap. Needs to shift a little. 

      I'm kinda crazy about design. It HAS to look like it looks in my head or I'm not happy. When you use a stripe it is important you make the stripes on the "knot" go the opposite direction from the rest of the tie, just like it would be on a real tie. It took a little brain work with this geometric print, getting it look like it was flying like Dilbert's tie.

                                        

     To make this tie look like it was flying, it needed to be constructed in sections: the knot, the middle of the wide end, the flipped up wide end, and the narrow end. I had to be sure the fabric print of each section was not going the same directions.

     I wanted to be sure the wide end looked like a real tie, sewn in the center. I cut the pattern in two pieces and shifted it a smidge so it wouldn't look like one solid piece. Then I sewed them together using 1/4" seam.

                              

I like the effect, but I've already decided how to improve the next one by adding a dark square, again looking like the backside of a real tie. Yeah, baby!

At this stage the two pictures above would not have the edges stitched down yet. 
I don't always think which pictures to take before hand.
That's the beauty of having my kind of perfectionism. Who's playing that drum?

                           

     Another design dilemma: I wasn't sure if I wanted the narrow end of the tie to be "normal" length or a little extra long. What about the idea of the narrow end doing a little flying itself? I decided normal and straight would be the way to go on this one. But like I said, I'm already scheming on the next one.

                 

 Didn't these pictures come out weird? Again, I used my cell phone (excuse 1), light from the hallway

was coming in (excuse 2),  and inexperienced assistant using photo enhancements (excuse 3) all

contributed to these rainbow affects. Kinda psychedelic, huh? Anyone have an idea why these 3

pictures won't stay in one row? Looks fine on the working copy, but is stupid while viewing the blog.

    

     I couldn't visualize in my head how the knot should be shaped, so I found one of my husband's real ties and tied it. "Okay, narrower at the bottom. I'll have to fold the top of the tie to fit. Yup, this is going to work." The fold under the knot worked out pretty well, but I think the next time I wont press it quite so flat. Leave it bumped out a little; just press the edges. My poor family: always getting the prototype. Sad little Guinea Pigs!

     After pressing down all sections to your project, you can leave as is. However, I like to stitch down the edges if the project is going to be washed and dried a lot. I like to use a blanket stitch on some projects, but on this I used a small zig zag. I used a stitch width of 3. The stitch length was just under 1.

     So, here is the final product. I'm pretty pleased with it. I have a nephew who is a high school vice principal. I'm thinking I should make one for him to wear to school. Maybe I will get orders from the other principals and teachers in the district. Ya never know!

                  

     Call your Fathahh!  Let's remember to tell our Dads how much we love them. Don't let sweet moments pass you by. I love you, Dad.