handmade presents: a tie for my brother

Many years ago I made a purple paisley brocade tie for my grandfather. It was probably the best item I've every made. It looked AWESOME and he wore it often! One of the last things we did together last summer was pick out some new fabric for a purple paisley dress vest. I couldn't find a fabric quite as nice as that original, but he decided on a pastel paisley brocade. He passed away a few weeks later, and was buried in that original handmade tie, so I decided to use that fabric to make a new tie for my brother.

I had already bought the vest pattern, Simplicity 4762, which also had a tie pattern included. The pattern was straightforward and enjoyable to sew (I particularly enjoyed hand basting all the fold lines), but I found the angles to form the points didn't line up well along the fold lines and the interfacing was wider than the fold lines it was supposed to fit in between. Granted, that could also be do to some stretching on my part of the bias cut fabric.

The pattern is cut from two main pieces, sewn on an angle in the middle.

Afterwards I decided to make something fun to match for his wife. I have a fun little covered button kit, turning them into post earring instead of buttons. The fabric was thick, and frayed awful, so it took quite a bit of finagling to get them to come together. Worth it, I think!

Sorry for the blurry picture... but as you can see, they are super cute!