Repurposed Ties

As I suspected a man's necktie serves no practical purpose. Ties are strictly nonfunctional. I even went so far as to research it. But I've always loved men's ties. Men started wearing ties literally hundreds of years ago. The tie got skinny and fat, long and short and back again, they've never been out of style. They have always been worn for strictly decorative purposes.

Impractical as they are, I love ties. A lot of men grumble at the idea of having to wear a tie, and call it a noose and other names along that line, but these men have to admit they feel dressed up when they put on a tie. Occasionally, they make an appearance in women's fashion; I even wore ties in the eighties! And hey, all you men out there that I have commented on your tie, I'm not flirting with you, I really am interested in your tie!

Ties are complicated pieces of craftsmanship, layers and layers of material. Even cheap ties get pretty complicated, I should know I've deconstructed quite a few. My first repurposed tie project, a quilt, started out as a vest. I got so many ties and was so excited by the project, it became a quilt. I just sewed the ties together, I didn't take them apart, so the quilt is really, really heavy. It used to hang on the wall. We joked that it would kill us if we put it on the bed. After that project I learned to deconstruct the ties. There is a lot to a tie, no wonder they can get expensive. Some of them even have foam in them. A couple of them were folded up so complicated it was like origami. I've made many bags, and purses and etc. from ties. I have made a few bags for friends from ties from a deceased loved one. The people who receive these bags are always so pleased, because they have a beautiful, functional item that reminds them of their loved one. I haven't got tired of making stuff with ties yet, I have a whole box of newly acquired ties, from the 1950-60's, just waiting to be made into a vest or another quilt!

The infamous very heavy tie quilt -

Here is the dress I made out of the 1970's bedspread, I bought the bedspread at a yard sale for 50 cent! How awesome is that! I'm ready for the office, dinner out or ready for bed!

My latest project is a rug I'm making out of used plastic grocery shopping bags! I'm crocheting it. It's more time consuming than I had thought, it will take a while and a lot of bags to finish it! I'm in no hurry, it's a good TV watching project. I use cloth bags for grocery shopping so I'm not collecting that many used plastic bags and you know, that's okay, the rug can wait.