JULY 2005
BOW TIE WITH A TWIST

 
Bow Tie With a Twist is not hard to make. The directions sound strange but if you follow along you will end up with a cute Bow Tie with a three dimensional center.

To make one 8" Bow Tie block, choose 2 fabrics, one for a background and the other for your bow tie. Cut two 4½" squares of the background fabric and cut three 4½" squares of the bow tie fabric. (If you want to make a smaller bow tie, cut all squares 2½".)

 Place one background fabric square right side up on the table. Fold one bow tie fabric square in half, WRONG sides together, to make a long rectangle. This will be the "knot" of the tie. Place that folded piece on the background square with the raw edges on the bottom, folded edge across the middle.

Now place another bow tie fabric square on top of those two pieces, RIGHT sides together (face down) and sew a ¼" seam along the right side edge. Your folded knot piece is now sandwiched between the two squares.

Now comes the tricky part – put your last background fabric right side up on the table. Open the previously sewn squares to reveal the folded bow tie knot fabric and lay the folded fabric on the background piece on the table, raw edges again on the lower edge. (The previously sewn edge is now on the left side of the background piece with the folded piece sticking out to the right.) Place your last bow tie fabric square on top, RIGHT sides together, and sew a ¼" seam on the right side of the squares.

If you open to see the right sides of the fabric it will now look something like this with the folded piece sewn between 2 squares on each side.

Now comes the fun part – stick your finger into the folded piece to open it up and place the other two blocks right sides together (like you would sew a Four Patch, matching the center seams) with the folded piece in the center. It will make a sort of triangle that will become the knot part of the bow tie when sewn and opened up. Sew the seam being careful to not catch the bottom of the "knot" but sewing through all layers. Sorry, I can’t draw it!

Now you’ve got a bow tie block with a folded knot for the center.

Bow Ties made by SMQG members!

If you would like to see a slightly different method please link to quilterbydesign.com/lessons/bowtie.html.