Make a Man's Tie into a Velcro Kid's Tie...

So, my littlest J's church dedication was on Mother's Day. For my oldest daughter I made her a dress (post coming) and for my son I wanted to make him something special to mark the occasion. At first thought that I would knit him a vest but I didn't have enough time. So I thought: a TIE!
I scoped out a few tutorials online to make him one but when I went to my favorite thrift store for a sale and found some ties cheap and I figured I could figure out how to resize them to make them fit a 7 year old and make it with Velcro so we didn't have to tie it.
So here is how I did it.

Here is the tie:

I cut it into 5 pieces, the front piece, the back piece, the 2 neck straps and a piece to make the fake tie. My son  is 7 and I made the pieces: 15 inches for the front piece, a little shorter for the back piece, 7.5 inches for the neck straps, and 6 inches for the fake knot.

Next, make the tie thinner. I usually don't iron, even when a pattern calls for it just because I don't think it is necessary, and I hate ironing, I mean I NEVER iron, I don't even own an ironing board (the only reason I own an iron is for craft projects, I know Mother I am a disapointment).

Anyway this project you really do have to take the time and iron. So, fold the tie to the width you want and iron one side...

Then the other. Now if you are making the tie for a smaller child you will have to cut the extra off the side and iron under the cut edge but for mine I didn't really need to. 

Next take the fake tie piece... 

 Fold one side and then the other to the back, then the other,

 then tuck in the raw edge sticking up above the front folded piece.

 Iron this piece so it holds it's shape.

 Now take the front and the back of the tie and sew it together across the top.

 Pinch the tie and use a needle to gather the top.

Open your ironed fake tie piece and sew the gathered top to the inside bottom layer only so that you can't see any stitching from the front.

 What it looks like folded back up:

Now take your needle and thread it through both pieces. After I did mine I realized I needed to make mine tighter, I think I left mine too loose but you judge what looks like a realistic tie on a tie.

 And here it is done...

 Next attach the 2 neck straps. I just hand sewed this through the back layer of fabric only.

 Add the Velcro...

 And that is it!

 Easy to put on, easy to take off! You can find ties at any thrift store for really cheap, I got a couple of silly ones also, Loony Toons and a Christmas one, which my son is actually excited to wear!