My son cracks me up. Sometimes he wants to look “crazy.” Mismatched socks. spiked up hair, clashing colored clothes, and most recently, ties over his t-shirts. He started with some bias tape from my craft drawer that he made me fashion into a tie with his Star Wars tee. Then he moved on to my husband’s ties. They hang down to his knees! i was determined to give him some of his own for christmas and he said he really wanted his name, lightning bolts and a rockstar tie…..hmmmm.

The following tutorial shows what i came up with to get some smiles this Christmas.

i’ll start by saying that finding little boys’ ties that aren’t clip-on is HARD! But i found one standard and one “ZIP” tie that is pretty cool and coop will like since he can tighten and loosen it himself.

1- i started by actually scanning the ties in and using their exact width, point angle, etc, to make a template in Adobe Illustrator. Then i created the art i’d use. i went simple on the name tie and included more detail in the guitar tie (keep in mind you have to cut these shapes with an x-acto knife later!) Little boys ties are just the right size to fit the graphic diagonally on a piece of letter size paper. Phew! i used Full Sheet crack n peel label stock to print my templates.

2 – once printed, i sat down with my x-acto and started carving out the reverse areas of my stencils and sticking them onto the ties. For floating pieces, i just laid the template down on the tie and used it like a puzzle to guide where i placed the bits.

3- i secured and re-secured all the sticker edges as much as possible and left the ties overnight…..because i was tired and it was 2am….not b/c its a necessary step : )

4 – i picked up some soft fabric paints by Tulip, including a neon yellow that just seemed fun!

5- after experimenting with a stippling brush and foam stipplers, i went with the foam. The bristles of the brush were too coarse and kept catching on the silky tie fabric.

6 – i randomly dipped and painted until all the open areas of my designs were covered. ya’ll know how to stencil, right?? Pouncing, no dragging! : )

7 – wait for the ties to dry. i hate being patient!

And after a bit of torturous waiting…here they are!

i hope they go over big on Christmas! It will be so hard to wait til then to see his reaction!