Guest Blogger Maybe Matilda

Todays Guest blogger is Maybe Matilda. 
She is so very cool, beautiful, super talented and is one of my favorite blogs to read! 
Thank you so much Rachel for coming over to the Glitter Blog 
and sharing your project!


Hi there! My name's Rachel and I blog at Maybe Matilda. I'm excited to be on Kelly's blog today and I have a fun project to share with you--it's kinda quirky, really cool, and quick and easy.

 I used one of my husband's old castoff ties (by the way, is your husband's closet stuffed with really awful old neckties that make you want to scratch out your eyeballs? Jeff's collection is a doozy.) to make a really fun pleated necktie necklace:

 

I think it's pretty dang cool, if I may say so myself, and I wish I could take credit for the idea but I stumbled across this picture on Pinterest (are you addicted? Is there a support group I can join?) and had to wipe the drool off my keyboard. It is awesome:

via

Since I couldn't find it for sale anywhere (who am I trying to kid? I don't buy things, I just copy them!), I went to town on Jeff's old tie and I think it came out pretty well!

Want one? Sneak into your husband's closet while he's otherwise occupied and get to work!

Start by removing the tag and little loop thingy on the back of the tie:

Then start folding your tie into pleats and pinning them in place, starting at the fat end of the tie. You want the pins to go through just the bottom and middle layers of the pleat and not all the way through to the top of the tie. As you're making your pleats, make sure that you're folding them into a curved shape as the tie gets narrower.

 

After pinning the pleats in place, I very lightly ironed it so that they would hold their shape while I was sewing (be careful ironing it--I found out the hard way that ties burn really quickly and easily!)

 

Now we're going to sew the pleats into place. You don't want the stitching to show on the front of the tie, so you'll only be sewing through the back of the pleats--just fold the tie so the right sides are facing and stitch a straight line where you pinned from the top of the tie to the bottom.

(Do you see how I'm only sewing the pleats on the back of the tie? Now there will be no stitches on the front!)

As you get further from the fat end of the tie and the curve becomes more pronounced, you'll need to angle your sewing line to allow the pleats to curve. This was kind of hard to photograph, but you'll get what I mean once you get there.

Carefully (carefully!) iron the pleats down flat, drape it around your neck, and decide on a button placement. Sew a button onto the fat tip of the tie through to the skinny end of the tie and cut off any excess length. (It looks like the necklace is really short, but I have no trouble pulling it straight on and off even with the ends sewn together.)

Isn't it cute? I love the tie I stole borrowed from my husband's closet; I hope he doesn't miss it. I think it makes such a great statement piece--with a simple tee and jeans, this necklace really shines!

Enjoy rocking your unique new jewelry and make sure to swing by my blog for more fun refashions, sewing projects, and fun craft ideas! Thanks for having me, Kelly!