In recent years, stylish butterflies for men have become extremely popular. They are usually worn at social events, in opera and theater, as well as when attending official events. In addition, butterflies for men are considered a common addition to a daily business suit. Depending on the dress code allowed by the company, these accessories can be extremely strict or have a pretty fun color.
Who wears a bow tie
Just like traditional ties, butterflies are a great gift. Women and girls often present such accessories to their dear men, buying them in specialized stores, at needlework fairs or making them with their own hands.
For those who know the basic techniques of sewing on a typewriter, this work does not seem complicated. A butterfly for men with their own hands is made in just a few hours, often it acts as the main "highlight" of the photo shoot. Here already for the craftswomen there are no restrictions regarding the choice of color or texture of the material.
If for an office worker a pink striped butterfly bow tie is most often considered unacceptable, then for a fun pastime - just right.
Following Sarah Bernhardt, who opened the convenience and comfort of trousers to women, girls are adopting more and more elements of men's wardrobe. They successfully use butterflies to give their image mischief or, conversely, sophistication.
Preparatory work
To quickly and effectively make a butterfly, you need to prepare the workplace, materials and tools in advance. Recommendations regarding the fabric of which butterflies are made for men will be given below.
Below you can see the pattern for sewing the accessory. It can be redrawn on thick paper or simply printed.
The drawing consists of two parts. After cutting, they need to be combined in dashed lines. This will be one detail. Each side of the product will consist of two parts, so only four need to be cut.
The numbers on the bottom of the pattern indicate the size of the butterfly for men in centimeters. It is determined by measuring the circumference of a man’s neck. This is important, because it will be impossible to tie a butterfly of the wrong size.
How to sew a butterfly for a man
First of all, you should choose a material. Butterflies for men are rarely sewn from woolen fabric, unless this is necessary as conceived by the craftswoman. Silk, satin, cotton or artificial fabrics are much more commonly used.
It is desirable that the material be tough, then it will be easier to cut and sew. In the event that the selected fabric was too soft, it should be glued with non-woven fabric.
This is done as follows:
- Four details are cut from the fabric according to the pattern.
- Two identical elements are prepared from non-woven fabric.
- Flizelin is applied to the wrong side of the parts and glued with an iron. So that the material does not stick to the sole of the iron, it should be covered with a cloth or ironed on the front side of the fabric.
- Check if the interlining is firmly stuck to the part (try to separate the layers).
Butterfly stitching for men
If the non-woven fabric adheres well and does not lag behind, you can grind two parts on each side (two of the four elements turned out). Then the resulting canvases are folded with the front sides inward, the structure is fastened with pins and wound.
Then prostrate on a typewriter. The seam should be laid carefully, maintaining the same distance from the edge.
Otherwise, you can get asymmetric butterflies for men. The photo below shows how a correctly executed line should look. You can also see here that a gap is left along one of the seams. Its length should be about 3-4 cm, it is useful in order to twist the finished butterfly. Overlocking the edges is optional.
The secret to properly turning the product
There are several tricks that will allow you to quickly and accurately turn out such a narrow product as a butterfly. However, before proceeding to this stage, you should cut all the corners without touching the line. This is necessary to form the correct geometric shape of the bow.
On bends, you can make shallow cuts.
Then they take something stiff and long (a knitting needle, an unsharpened pencil, a Chinese hairpin) and put it on the widest section of the butterfly. Putting on a butterfly on an object, the product is gradually inverted.
Alignment
The resulting "sausage" looks pretty unattractive, but it has not yet been leveled and ironed. To see the real shape of the product, it should be straightened with tweezers. Then, the stitched parts are ironed with an iron, achieving a perfectly flat cloth.
Now you can sew up the gap through which the butterfly was turned. To do this, use a blind seam. You can also sew it on a typewriter, since anyway this section remains under the collar.
That's all, the work is finished. Now, knowing how the butterfly is sewn, you need to understand how to tie an accessory for men. It is not difficult to fix a butterfly of a suitable size with a knot. It’s enough to figure it out once. The following photo will clearly show how to tie an accessory for men. A bow tie for girls is tied in exactly the same way.
Alternative Butterfly Making
It is not necessary to make a classic accessory that you need to wear correctly. You can simplify the task for yourself and for men in the future.
The following paragraphs will describe how to sew a bow tie for a man with sewn elastic.
For work, you will need the same tools and materials plus an elastic band.
Cut fabric
You need to cut three rectangles from the material that is selected for the job. Dimensions of parts:
- 30 cm x 15 cm.
- 20 cm x 15 cm.
- 6 cm x 10 cm.
The first two segments must be glued with non-woven or doubler.
Now from all the cut out rectangles you need to form ribbons:
- Pieces of fabric are folded in half.
- Iron the fold line.
- Then unfold and fold one side so that the open edge touches the ironed line.
- Fixed with an iron.
- With the second side they do the same.
- Fold the fabric so that all cut and unprocessed edges are inside.
- They are ironing.
Now we got a neat tape. In the same way, the remaining rectangles are turned into ribbons.
Butterfly assembly
Two large ribbons are folded with narrow ends in the middle and sewn. Here you can not try to carefully perform all the seams, since they still will not be visible.
Again we get the rectangles. A medium-sized part is placed on a large rectangle and their centers are aligned. Then fix with a thread (sew) and tighten the seam.
The result was a two-layer bow-bow. The smallest tape will serve as a disguise for the ugly middle.
It needs to be sewn into a ring along narrow edges and dragged into the center of the butterfly. When the tape is placed, it is firmly sewn to the product from the wrong side.
Having cut off the elastic band of the required length, it is threaded under a narrow tape, and the edges are folded and sewn very securely. If the fastening is insufficient, an awkward situation can happen when the butterfly flies off the collar at the most inopportune moment.
If desired, you can use both methods to make several accessories for different clothes.
Butterflies for children
The craftswomen who were lucky to be mothers know very well how difficult it is to find the right accessories for their children. If you can find the right size, there is no color or texture for the fabric.
Here, the ability to create jewelry with their own hands also comes to their aid. Butterflies are a great addition to a festive school costume or are used as props for designing a masquerade image.
As an alternative to a variety of "bears" and "bunnies", the suit of the "little gentleman" looks great. It usually includes strict dark trousers, a white shirt and a vest. Of course, it is impossible to do without a bow tie, which becomes the main highlight.