How to Make a Bow Tie (Using Fabric from Your Stash!)

I love bow ties. I love them for myself and for others, and I’ve made quite a few in my time because they make great gifts. Today I’m sharing a tutorial on how to make a bow tie out of any fabric.

In this tutorial, I’ll also be sharing the two ways I use to ‘close’ the bow ties. The first, a gift for my fiancé, uses a small piece of elastic to provide a little more flexibility in the back neck, while the second, a gift for me – because girls can wear bow ties too! – has a button and two buttonholes, again for flexibility at the back neck. And because I cannot tie a bow tie. I tried, many times, and I failed.

The third version is a one piece bow tie, which I made for our friend Richard (and have a replica of it to show you).

You don’t need any special sewing skills to sew a bow tie, just patience because it can be fiddly turning them through, and even more patience if you go for the one piece version and need to practice doing it ‘up’ yourself!

If you prefer to learn through video, you can watch the video tutorial on making DIY bow ties over on my YouTube channel.

DIY Bow Tie: What You’ll Need

To make a bow tie you’re going to need:

• Bow tie pattern pieces
• Fabric
• Interfacing
• Fastening

Bow Tie Pattern

You can grab my free bow tie pattern from my online shop. It includes seam allowance and several neck size options too. Print it at home and you’re ready to go.

Suitable Fabric

You don’t need a lot of fabric for a bow tie and you can even use different fabrics for the inner and outer pieces if you’re happy to stash bust. I recommend a woven fabric for absolute beginners, but those with sewing experience should definitely have a go with knit fabric!

You don’t need much fabric and most kinds of fabric will do, so feel free to be experimental! You could go classic black like the one loved by James Bond or go crazy colorful like the bow tie above by my old fashion friend Rakel Blom!

Interfacing

You can use either fusible or sew-in interfacing but the weight should be suitable for the fabric you have chosen.

Fastenings

For the first version I am using a piece of elastic that is 1″ / 2.5cm wide and for the second I am using small buttons that work well with button holes at the end of the strap.

You’ll also want access to an iron and ironing board if you’re using fusible interfacing, a sewing machine or needle and thread and a pair of scissors suitable for cutting fabric.

Constructing The Bow Ties

As mentioned there are three versions of the bow tie to choose from.

Version 1: The Elasticated Bow Tie

To make this version of the bow tie, I cut out two long pieces of fabric and interfaced both sides with a non-woven interfacing. With the wrong side of the fabric together, I sewed along one of the long skinny ends, around the main bow piece, and along the second long strip edge, leaving the short end open.

It’s important to trim away the fabric along the straight lines and notch the fabric along the curves. You can trim the curves too, but as the raw edges have not been serged / overlocked (to limit bulk) they will be more prone to fraying.

The next step is tricky but you might find a loop turner helpful. Turn the bow tie pieces that the right side is now out, and give it a good press. Repeat the same steps for the second piece of the bow tie.

Now that you have two almost finished pieces, we will take the short edges and insert a little elastic into each end. Start by folding back the seam allowance amount indicated on the pattern – mine is 1 cm – and pin to secure. Then insert one end of the elastic into each end of the bow tie.

This is the back of the bow tie, and will be hidden by a short collar, but we still want it to be neat and tidy, so take your time. You can either machine sew along each of the shorter edges, or hand stitch it closed using a slip stitch to make sure the raw ends are tucked inside. I machine stitched mine.

Version 2: The Button & Hole Bow Tie

For my bow tie I picked out two contrasting pieces of fabric and interfaced just one of them.

I repeated the steps for version 1, including trimming back excess fabric so the bow tie can be turned through and presses neatly, but I attached a button to one finished end and two buttonholes to the other.

This provided me with some flexibility on my neck  measurement as I prefer a looser fit for my bow ties.

Version 3: The All In One Bow Tie

The version that I made for our friend Richard was made from a jacquard and was the first bow tie I had made in a while. Where the previous versions had elastic or fastenings at the end of the neck strap, this version is made from a larger piece of fabric, and is more suited to special occasions. In fact, I do believe it was the first bow tie Richard had received, and so he had to look online for a bow tie tutorial to be able to use it. Lots of practice in front of a mirror!

For this version, you would start sewing a little beyond the center on the long straight edge. You’re going to want to sew all the way along, around the first bow tie end, and along the full length of the lower long end. Continue around the second bow tie end and along the original long straight edge – but do not finish the line. We need an opening to turn the bow ties through,

Trim away any excess fabric as we did on the previous versions, and snip in on the curves to allow the fabric to lay flat when turned through. Being mindful not to distort the fabric, turn the bow tie through so that the right side is out, and then press neatly to get a clean finish. You’ll need to press in the seam allowance of the opening, and then this can be sewn closed, by machine or by hand.

As I mentioned at the start, these bow ties make gorgeous handmade gifts and you’re welcome to use the pattern to create gifts for your loved ones. I would love to see how yours turn out, so do share them on Instagram or Facebook and tag me!

If you enjoyed this and fancy another project do take a look at my super simple padded glasses case tutorial, my favourite shorts pattern for men or perhaps this list of easy clothing ideas that you could sew up for dad!