DIY ! printed bow tie for the birthday boy

This printed bow tie had to be one of the most challenging DIY i ever took up. Don't get me wrong... the actual project only takes about 2 days... but with finding the right fabric colour, coming up with the best method for printing, figuring out how to make it adjustable and only working on it after my day job; i realized it was more time consuming than i had imagined in my head.

Phase One | The Idea 

I knew exactly what i wanted to print. The original pattern was suppose to look like this:

Why the three of us? Well, first let me introduce you to the birthday boy. Ahmad has been my dearest friend since high school, ever since i jumped him in the hallways. And Yan, i've known her since we use to play dress up when we were 7. After hours of choir practice together, months of dealing with a mutual unstable friend of ours, and hanging out at countless hip-hop gigs; we three had naturally grew a special bond. Starting out with bitching about our classmates and crazy clubbing days during our uni, to psyching each other out on our first steps into our careers and finally to talks about settling down; we three had managed to survive and been there for one another during our young adulthood... So, it would've only been complete if all three of us were a part of Ahmad's 31st birthday gift.

Now that i had an idea for the print, i needed to learn how to make a bow tie since Ahmad, the daring fashionista among the three of us, had a flair for them. For that, A Beautiful Mess had a really simple tutorial. So, i had the big idea... next, i just had to get started.

Phase Two | Trial & Error

So, i thought i'd give transfer paper a shot. That went horribly wrong because the printed area looked like plastic. Since that didn't work, next i tried the medium gel transfer method. That didn't work either... because only some parts of the area got printed. My last option was to actually get the illustration made into stamps. But i knew there had to be a another DIY method i could use.

After days and weeks... and months of figuring it out, i finally decided to make my own stamps. The only drawback of this was that i couldn't make it as detailed as i wanted to. And so, it ended up looking like this instead:

Now, this is when the project really got started.

Phase Three | Making the Stamps

Phase 4 | Making the Bow

Check out A Beautiful Mess for a more detailed tutorial. I made mine with a hook and adjustable straps. But basically, you can follow these steps.

 

Photo courtesy of A Beautiful Mess

Finally 

And there you have it, i finally had my bow tie.

Made a lil card to go with it.

And after 8 months of waiting, the birthday boy finally got his birthday present.

Sorry for the wait babe. I hope you like it...

It was definitely a fun gift to work on... even with the sleepless nights and nicks from the carving tools. Since Ahmad loves wearing bow ties... and looks awesome wearing them, i knew i definitely had to get it just right.

Give it a shot for that special guy in your life...