So you want to weave a tie ...

Yep! I do. I borrowed a friend's Aeroknot loom, and then managed to find one of my own. Cute little 8" weaving width, perfect for not eating up precious sitting room real-estate. I've already managed one scarf on it, second one is in the works. And there's some lovely purple silk in my stash that for some reason screams "Tie!" at me.

So, I want to weave a tie. Google didn't turn up much -- nothing useful, unless I want to buy a handwoven tie. It does appear they are all cut on the bias and sewn, no such beast as an unlined tie unless it's knit. (Hey, maybe I should knit a tie ...)

My local "Warped Ones" weaving study group came to the rescue! KA brought me an actual handwoven tie from her Dad's collection, woven on Orkney Island. Gorgeous, woven strip, slightly tailored but mostly "as off the loom", with a sewn on lining but clearly selvedges visible inside on the wider end. Lovely! And then KH brought me a list of handwoven tie articles from her own magazine stash. Yay!

In case you want to weave a tie too, here are the ones I tracked down from her list:

• Great Ties Weaving Contest. HANDWOVEN Nov-Dec 1992 (v.13 #5) pg. 34-35,80-81.
  Lots of fun ties, the patterns are for 3 standard shaped, cut on the bias ties and 2 straighter, cut on the grain ties. They look like fun!
  
• Man's necktie is woven in three-shaft lace Bronson. HANDWOVEN Mar-Apr 1997 (v.18 #2) pg. 49-82.
  This interests me because the group is working on laces right now and Bronson is our next lace ... nothing like combining study with desire to make it fun!
  

I'm on the lookout for Handwoven Mar-Apr 1985, as it has a very extensive-sounding tie article in it as well: Weave a "knot" of men's ties in plain weave, with weft stripes, plain weave with an overshot border, waffle weave, honeycomb, and plain weave with embroidery and inlay all on a rosepath threading on a four shaft loom. HANDWOVEN Mar-Apr 1985 (v.6#2) pg. 54, I-11.

And if you like tracking things down yourself, Interweave has the Handwoven indexes available online ... 1979-2004 and 2005-present.

And then there's the question of who gets these ties ... it struck me today that DH didn't even wear a tie to our wedding, so that seems like a non-starter. But, DS is quickly approaching his teens, so I think (I hope!) I can convince him to wear a "mom tie" at least to a band concert if not to a formal dance at some point (grin).

~~~

What, on your loom, has made people say, "Why are you making that?"