Category: ties

New mannequin, new photos

First glimpse of my new ghostly mannequin. Isn't she lovely?

Please excuse the grainy Instagram snapshot and the incredibly messy sewing room, but this is the first glimpse of my new mannequin. Isn’t she lovely? Much more sophisticated than my polystyrene heads.

Organic bow tie

The arrival of the mannequin has led to a day of product photography, which (as it turns out) is rather difficult. Especially when your “studio” is two pieces of wallpaper propped up on the bed, and a reflector that’s quite difficult to wrangle at the same time as the camera! Still, these photos are a definite improvement on the previous ones, even though they do still need improvement themselves. Work In Progress, and all that.

I wanted to showcase the last few bow ties, as I’ve added a coupon code to the Inexplicable Emporium. Simply enter “FATHERSDAY” when you check out, and you’ll receive 20% off your order. This is valid until June 15th – but don’t forget to allow enough time for your parcel to arrive in the post!

Purple cloche hat

I’ve also re-photographed all the cloche hats (some with greater success than others), to try and make them look a bit more tempting. I’ll finally be able to work on some new hats soon, as the lace I’ve been waiting for has finally arrived! Although I had a slight incident with a vegetable slicer at the weekend, which means I can’t do any hand sewing until the hole in my thumb has healed a bit more. Oops.

(By the way – the code “FATHERSDAY” works throughout my Etsy store, not just on the items that your Dad might like. So if you’ve been coveting a hat, you can take advantage of the offer to buy it at a bit of a discount.)

I do love this pink and purple one. If somebody doesn’t snap it up very soon, I think I might just have to keep it.

Buttons and Bows

First bow tie, finished and boxed.

This was the first of Mr Magpie’s Adjustable Bow Ties to come off my mini production line. It’s a cotton hand-tied bow, on a grosgrain ribbon adjustable band. I love the look of a hand-tied bow but I find it impossible to tie one on front of a mirror, so this seemed like the ideal solution!

Organic cotton covered buttons, 15mm

While I was making the bow ties, I used all the offcuts of organic cotton to cover a little pile of 15mm buttons. They’ll be for sale alongside the ties and the vintage button stash that I’ve been sorting out.

Organic cotton bow ties

Here they are in glorious technicolour – all the striped fabrics are all from fat quarters of organic cotton designed by Kaffe Fassett for Rowan. I don’t think that particular fabric’s available any more, but I’ll definitely be making more bow ties with new organic cottons as I buy them.

I’ve got one more batch of fragranced tealights to make before the Frome Steampunk Extravaganza, and once they’re done, it’ll be a matter of what else I can make in the time I’ve got available in between my shifts at work. Hopefully I’ll end up with a stall that shows a good variety of the things I enjoy making, and that people will actually want to buy!

Rose Tattoo bow tie

Rose Tattoo bow tie

I spent yesterday drawing out a new bow tie pattern, and here’s the result! It’s made from quilting cotton, “Rose Tattoo” by Alexander Henry. Not that you’d know it, from the way this one’s folded, but I think it’s rather nice this way.

Rose Tattoo bow tie

As you can see, it’s both freestyle (self-tied) and adjustable. That means you get the classic self-tied look, but you don’t have to tie it yourself every time you put it on. The slider that you can see just below the collar is hidden once the tie’s fastened, and there’s a hook at the back.

This tie’s quite a long one, adjustable to fit 15″ to 21″ collars. (For reference: a ladies’ shirt in a size 12 has a collar around a 15″.) Next time I’ll amend the band a little bit, to make it a bit shorter and ever so slightly wider.

I’ve popped this one into my Etsy shop, and my plan for this afternoon is to start work on a few more to follow it!