Hot Pink Legally Blonde Tie

 

A satin pink tie! Oooo! 

My son's high school musical cast was doing a preview fundraiser night. They were going to perform a couple of numbers from their upcoming musical, Legally Blonde. The theme color was pink. Hot pink.

 He announced a couple of days before the event that he needed a pink tie. A bright, hot pink, satin pink tie, like these. It's pink, pink, very pink.

I went to a couple of stores. But NO HOT PINK TIE FOUND.  I turned to my RTW Fasters group, initiated by Sarah of Goodbye Valentino.  Help~! Who can recommend me a simple, easy, and fast tie pattern?  Is it hard to make one?  Several responded, giving me some tips and directions. Thank you, my RTW Fasting sisters!

I quickly learned that 1) there are many free tie patterns online; 2) there is a thing called tie interfacing and that this stuff is important; 3) everything is cut in bias = so you need more fabric than you think you do!

I found my pattern at Coletterie. I looked at a few others, just so I have more than one reference point, but I decided this free pattern was good enough. Then, I dashed off to the fabric store.  On my way to the store, suddenly I heard my inner voice say, "Stop at the Value Village, right there on your right.  It's just right there. Check it"  I haven't been to VV in a loooooooooooooong time.  Since I only had one morning to make the tie, it would be ideal if I found an already made tie. So, I decided to spend 5 minutes just to browse through, just in case.  I pulled in to the VV parking lot.

This is what I found, instead of the perfect tie.

A never worn, brightly hot and satiny pink dress. And it's a size something like 16. Lots of fabric. The front had beaded details which had been snagged here and there. So, I didn't feel too bad about taking this new dress apart.

"The blue tag is 50% off today~!" I heard the announcement. Hey, this dress had a blue tag! It was now discounted to $10. So, I bought it.  It's the perfect color, the perfect texture fabric.  No need to go to the fabric store now! Score.

Just the front sash part was enough to make a tie.

 

With the amount of time I had, and for the first time I made a tie, I'm happy with the result.

I had this French themed fun cotton fabric in my stash I felt was perfect for the lining.  Lucky me, I also found in my stash good enough texture interfacing for the tie. I had just enough!

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I didn't know that much handsewing was involved~!!  Any other days, it would have been fine, but I only had very limited time. The fabric was slippery for the machine sewing part, too! 

Luckily, I had a pink bias tape to use for the loop to hold the tie. So many "lucky"s for this tie making. I was meant to make one.

Like so.

Literally, 10 minutes before he had to leave, the tie was done, pressed, ready to go. I spent the next 10 minutes getting dressed to go myself.  What a race. Phew. We made it!

However, what I wasn't quite aware was that;

For this event, the cast was to wear their brand new grey cast sweatshirt OVER anything else they were wearing.

Here he is, with a little look of guilt on his face.  My tie (well, now his) got just three inches of fame!

Just that much of the pink tie peaking out! I could have just GLUE that much of the fabric onto his shirt!

I had him take off the sweatshirt for the photo opp.  Oh, well.  Now I know how to make ties.

Incidentally, happy birthday to my Sweet Son. Ha! That's what I'm going to call him from now on. SS. That's his initials anyway.

And, I have LOTS of satin pink fabric left to make something else. The dress is lined, too. Even more fabric! Ok, that was a lot of fun, race sewing.

Anything I Can Do, I Can Do Better: Quick and Easy Costume Makeover

Happy New Year!

The song title is actually, "Anything YOU can do I can do better". But I don't mean to compete with anyone. I only have myself to compete or challenge with, if at all. Just to better myself. I want to sew better. I want to sew faster. I want to stay on track with my sewing project better this year. So, when I was thinking about that, I was reminded of the song, "Anything I You Can Do I Can Do Better" and this little project I did back in summer of 2013.

My son and I both do music. Separately for the most part. Yet, this past summer, we had the opportunity to do a duet. We were asked to sing together. I was certain my teenage son would say, "Are you out of your mind, mother?!?!" However, his answer -- "Sure."

Anyhow. I had just found this gorgeous black/green lame vintage suit and so I planned to wear it for the show. We needed a matching something for my son's costume.  Men's stage costumes are tricky. What do you do?! Ties. Different colors of ties. That's about it.  I went looking for a tie that would match my vintage suit.  I couldn't find any.... I thought about making one, but couldn't find an appropriate fabric for it either. I was getting desperate.

Just the night before the show, I found a green tie at a local Goodwill.  But it wasn't flashy enough.  At the same store, I found a green pillow case with sequins pattern. Heeeeyy!

The sequins area of the pillow case was just barely long enough for the front of the tie.  Just cut it up and I hand sewed it on to the tie.

 

How is that, matching with my vintage suit??

 

Well, I'm a happy, lucky, and proud mama. I didn't think I would be dueting with my son!

Wishing you the very best of everything, most of all, a healthy and happy new year! 

Oh, and here is the duet!