How to make a boys necktie

In the past few years, projects and sewing have truly become a welcome release for me from the daily stresses of life. As a friend of mine put it, "they're the one thing that STAYS done". Every day I cook food, do dishes, clean up toys and guess what, I get to do them all over again the next day. So even though I don't have much time to spare (mostly evenings and nap times) I'd rather spend those making things. I always come away with a sense of accomplishment and joy at making something new and useful.
At Arty and Esther's wedding, her mom had little seafoam green ties made for Ethan and Isaac. So when Jeff and Jessica announced their wedding plans I thought- ahah! I could make ties for them to match the wedding party. Jessica chose Emerald Green, Black and White as her colors and since their little suits are already black and white I went for a beautiful, bold green.
It turns out ties are SUPER easy! I carefully ripped out the stitching on the back of one of their seafoam ties so I'd have a pattern to follow. Then I just cut out the 4 pieces you see in the picture. The green part is obviously for the tie (it's fatter than normal so you can fold it over) and the long monkey piece is because you need a thicker fabric center to give the tie more weight.
First cut your pieces, then turn the right side of your tie material to the right side of the monkey fabric and sew just around the outside.
Flip them inside out and press.
Insert the middle monkey part into the top and bottom so it fits snuggly.
Fold and press gently the outside edges of the tie.
Then carefully hand stitch the back of the tie. This was the only time consuming part of it but I just plopped myself in front of a movie and it was easy.
Seriously how cute are these? Next time I'll make them a little longer since the boys have grown since April and these were a bit short on them (didn't matter with their vests though). Also you'd have to sew them longer if you wanted to tie a fancier knot like a double Winsor or something. There was a huge debate about how to tie ties on Friday with 2 brothers, 2 brothers-in-law, 1 husband, and 1 great-grandpa all trying to get them done at the same time. I got asked a lot why the monkey fabric. Really you could choose anything, I just thought it was fun.
And just for fun I found a tutorial on how to make bowties online.
Don't they look darling. Of course they're too distracted by all the fun things at the reception hall to even look at me while they say cheese.
Love the alfalfa curl going on with Miles.
My boys with the bride and groom. It was so cute to see Isaac flirting with Jessica. We've gotten to spend a lot of time with these two since they just live an hour away and Isaac is officially in love with her. Totally cute!