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aren't you glad I'm not using a punny subject line, like 'all tied up'?

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tie dress
A Dress A Day reader Cynthia sent me this picture — she's in the process of making a dress out of ties, as well. I've always wanted to do this, but taking apart ties is a pain in the neck, and sewing with all that bias silk …. oy. Maybe someday. In the meantime, take a look at this example and start stockpiling ties, as I am.

(I do have a fabulous Christmas-tree skirt made of ties, which was a present from my friend Thora, who is one of the most interesting, intelligent, and just plain wonderful people you'd ever want to meet. That link goes to information bout the show of French dictionary art she curated last year. It's in French, though …)

One word of warning — if you click on the image above and read the comments, you may exceed your recommended daily dose of exclamation points! I'm not kidding!! Really!!!

0 thoughts on “aren't you glad I'm not using a punny subject line, like 'all tied up'?”

  1. Where did she find all those gorgeous ties? Those are beautiful enough to warrant the time and effort. Wow. I’m usually not a fan of this look, but oh my god those ties are so amazing.–Lydia

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  2. I tried to make a skirt like this in my younger days, it really turned out badly, the bias-ness of the ties does not lend itself to sewing strips together. I still have it, may be a quilt some day…..Any Goodwill, St. Vincents, Salvation Army will have great ties all the time, it probably took me 6-8 mos to find enough to go’round my butt.

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  4. I tried to make a tie skirt once but it ended up being kind of fugly, and it just seemed to emphasis my width and lack of height. I think I wore it once and never again. This dress is lovely, however.

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  5. Craftster.org has several necktie garments, including a skirt, and my personal favorite, the necktie corset belt. Hot! (Unf, Craftster is for registered users only so the links wouldn’t work. Poo.)

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  6. Reading the previous comments, it’s so funny. It seems like everyone has attempted some variation of this project at at some point. The execution on this one is way better than mine was though.

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  7. I have 2 short skirts I made out of ties. They are pretty much just thrown together, but cute and I always get comments on them when I wear them. Similarly the umbrella skirts.

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  8. this has nothing to do with your post. i just wanted you to know that my liberty print purcells arrived today. THANK YOU for the pointer.

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  9. I did this with ties (left intact, not opened up) when I was about 10; the project was a skirt. My mother helped me, and we used my dad’s castoffs–wide, loud ’70s ties. We sewed the edges of the ties together by hand, and looped the tops over on the inside, making a tunnel, then used a final tie through the loops as a drawstring closure. Genius! Well, I WAS 10, and no one had ever thought of it back then, at least not in my neighborhood, or in my demographic. As far as I knew.

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  11. This dress is a superior example of the tie genre because of the maker’s exquisite taste in choosing the ties. She should wear it in good health!

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  16. Hello,I just happen to open your page and was pleased to see something of interest to me. The dress definately is a go grabber. I also noted the display stand the dress is drapped on. Tell me more of working with fabrics, beads, and vintage wares that interest you. Thank You, CMH.

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  17. I think that the reason that this particular endeavor works and most necktie–creations don’t is the fact that they’ve been opened up: they flow, rather than sticking stiffly out from one point, and it really shows off those gorgeous fabrics. It’s lovely!My favorite necktie creation (I come from the land of “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”) was a big, nasty polyester quilt. Sure, the ties were huge, so it didn’t require as many of them; but the knots they formed [as ties] must have been the size of softballs! And could you think of any fabric more itchy and sweat-inducing than double-knit? It would absolutely seal in your body heat like a bin liner.

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  19. what you do is you jump on down to an op shop, grab fabulous ties (shop around) do your ties in panels, i did mine in 7s, work from the middle out, my dress i did by hand, it took forever, but it looks fabulous, and for shorter lengths machine is easier without distorting the fabric directions. do be careful about the different materials you’re sewing together and sewing around the ends is a good idea. your garment will be very heavy if you’ve used lots of thick ties (they’re easier to sew too)….

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