Neck Tie Making for Father’s Day

Hubby has a huge collection of ties. At last count (admittedly several years ago) he had 40 on his tie rack that he wears regularly and another 50 or so that he cannot part with stored in a box under the bed.

I swore to him shortly after we were married that I would never buy him a tie. However, while searching for something creative for the kids to make for him last Father’s Day I stumbled across a very clever idea of a handprint tie and had to cave! It’s a fun activity, though, so I thought I’d share for an indoor activity for you to try if you are still looking for an idea!

You might want to do a quick search for ‘handprint tie’ or ‘how to make a handprint tie’ to get some ideas if you don’t particularly like the idea shown to the right.

Here’s what we did:

Materials: solid colored tie (we found some relatively cheap ones at the second hand store), contact paper, marker, scissors, paper, fabric paint, sponge or paintbrush, covering for work surface, children with clean hands

1. First, test the fabric paint on a hidden part of the tie making sure it is the right color and the coverage you’d like is obtainable.
2. Trace the boys’ hands and cut them out.
3. Trace their cut-out hands onto contact paper. I know it seems redundant, but I wanted to make sure the handprints looked good before wasting contact paper.
4. Very carefully, cut the handprints from the contact paper, being extra careful to cut from the center of the base of the palm line (rather than cutting through contact paper palm to reach the outline) so we were making a handprint cut out at the same time as making a handprint template. Does that make sense? (Should have made a pic of that step, but…) I made one cutout of each of their hands and kept all portions of the contact paper.
5. Peel the contact paper for the actual handprint and place it on the tie where you’d like it. Do the same with the other handprints and the contact paper with the outline of the hands. Press down well so no paint sneaks under the contact paper. (You might want to think about how low the tie hangs and place handprints accordingly.)
6. Take the sponge or brush and dip lightly in the fabric paint.
7. Carefully tap the sponge or brush where you’d like the color to show. If you tap hard the paint will be thicker in that area. If you tap lightly, or pull it along the fabric it will show a little of the material through the paint and have different effects.
8. After letting the paint dry the recommended amount of time indicated on the fabric paint bottle, carefully peel the contact paper off the material.
9. You may have to repeat steps 5 through 8 several times so that your paint does not overlap an area you’d like to remain without paint.

I wish I had taken pictures of each step, but apple green paint (the color the boys chose) a light blue tie and lots of fingers doesn’t allow for quick snapshots in an activity like this!

Hubby loves his tie! And yes, the color green we chose is a bit loud, but Hubby dresses very tastefully,  in different colored button-down shirts so this is actually a good match!