Friday, May 16, 2008

Dad's Necktie Quilt

Start with a bag of neckties from Goodwill or similar (in this case, these were generously donated by my good friend Carol):


Design and cut a pattern:

Close up of pattern:

Start cutting the ties up:


Piecing the strips together:


First square sewed:

Six squares sewed:


20 squares sewed:

20 squares with knotting detail:


After trimming the squares so that they were all around the same size, and laying them out and labeling them so that if they get mixed up you'll always know where square A1 or D5 goes, the sewing of the squares in to strips can happen:





Now, each strip can be sewn vertically to the next strip in line. If you want to add spacers as we did when sewing each square together you can.

Here's the finished quilt top. Under it will go batting (100% cotton) and backing.



I'm almost done with the quilting part and then I can start binding the edges. If you look over to the left there are all these little white dots because I pin-basted it instead of basting with thread.

Trixie and Ari help with the binding.



Square close-up.


Quilts By Kate

Finished Necktie Quilt
(As seen on Ryan Seacrest's website!)

All quilts by kate are one-of-a-kind originals. A quilt like this would be priced at $650.00.

Done and hung at mom and dad's:


11 comments:

Cliff Spears said...

Wow, that really looks comfortable, Kate! Especially the comforter! Looks like your cats enjoyed your creation, too. What I admire about it the most is how the design of each tie blends well with the others. You know, I've never seen a quilt made of neckties THAT big. How long did it take you to make it, Kate?

Anonymous said...

I acquired all my dad's neckties after he passed. I can't wait to do this!

Dolores Pyer said...

Love this idea! My dad died last year after 60 years as a Pastor. I have all of his ties. Can't wait to do this with my mom!

Unknown said...

I love your quilt. How did you quilt it? The one I made, I hand-tacked with a cotton crochet thread, the kind you make doilies out of. I sed a sheet for the backing and it was part polyester, art cotton. I think one of those sheets that looks like cotton but is really polyester would be so soft and nice on the back of this kind of quilt. Such a nice quilt. In the case of a string quilt, since I didnt think I had enough ties, I bought some silk or polyester shirts from te thrift store that had fabric that looked lie it could be a tie, and cut them up to make strips. Nobody but me knows they arent all ties!

Unknown said...

I'm sorry, my keyboard sticks, there are some misspelled words in here. I meant to say I used a sheet, and part cotton not art cotton!

Nancy said...

Great quilt Kate! What did you use in between the squares?

Anonymous said...

What kind of backing and bordering fabric could I use?

Unknown said...

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#together
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jill said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jill said...

how many ties did u need for this?

Anonymous said...

I cannot read the length on the graph of different pieces. Could you please provide