GailG

I share your excitement over men's ties. I have a sizeable collection myself. Years ago I bought a book DADDY'S TIES, by Shirley Botsford. It contains a wealth of information and great pictures and diagrams.

shayarene

Thank you EVERYONE for all the great advice and examples. I really liked the Fons/Porter Tutorial. I think that is the one I will be trying out. But I am thinking I might make my blocks a little larger than the 6" so they are more dramatic?
And I also think those ties are going to get tossed into the washer for a very light jossling around to get other people's wear off them. LOL Plus they were in a huge bin full of junk so I would like to wash them first and hope for the best.
I do have a question, what do you mean by Stabilizer? The lady in the video just sewed them onto a piece of muslim? Do I need a special kind of needle for sewing these? Some of the ties look so pretty that I will hate to cut them up. I don't think as a beginner that I will try the Dresdan Plate. I am not that good and I have never done any applique. Again, thank you to everyone for all the fantastic info. :-) I appreciate it all. Rachel

Prism99

When sewing to muslin, it is called foundation piecing. You can do that with silk from ties. However, many people use an iron-on fusible interacing as a stabilizer so the ties can be cut and pieced just like cottons. For this you want a featherweight stabilizer so the hand of the silk isn't changed too much. I think most people like the Pellon featherweight interfacing for silk ties:
http://www.fiber-images.com/Free_Thi...ing_guide.html

quiltmouse

On the F/P video, she precut little rectangles, then sewed them to her foundation (muslin), then trimmed to the foundation. I thought she lost a lot of tie fabric when she trimmed.

One thought. Pick your finished block size 6" (or 8"-whatever). Add your seam allowance 6-1/2 (8-1/2) Then double it to 13" (17"). Cut your muslin to 13" (17"). take your ties apart, sew to your muslin. Then trim the edges, then cut your muslin into 4 pieces, back down to your block size 6-1/2" (8-1/2"). Ties are LONG and will fit this larger foundation, then you reduce the amount of trimmings by half.

Kassaundra

You inspired me to get out my stash of ties and prepare them to be used (laundered, gutted and pressed). All of my ties survived machine laundering (on gentle) and machine dried (low heat). Take a good look at the reverse side, some of them have amazing reverse fabric.