The Bow Tie

Why produce a bow tie?  you may ask. There is no great reasoning behind the bow tie as design. The focus is more to produce a product which can be sold that will contribute to the environment and community. 

But, if you like, the bow tie to me in some contexts resemble success and sophistication. In this day and age, in order to achieve success, being a capable reader is very important. With this in mind I would like the bow tie to be a symbol of literacy so as to create awareness and motivate people to take part in projects encouraging literacy especially in under privileged communities.

See more of the story on Narrative

I made my first experiments with 100% Merino wool. Even though it's natural and very beautiful, it is quite expensive and would raise my production cost quite high.

I used basic stocking stitch to knit these first bow ties.

The initial idea was to produce some bow ties from merino wool and others from recycled wool. But this would mean different prices for different bow ties. And as my first marketing/production endeavor, I want to keep it simple. 

So recycling it is. These kids' jerseys I found at a thrift store.

And the unraveling began!

I also used leftover small balls of wool that couldn't be used for bigger projects.

As seen above, the first bow ties were knitted. The knitted structure together with the very soft Merino wool resulted in floppy bow ties.

So the idea was given to weave them. This gives a more firm fabric and better formed bow ties.

This is my first weaving loom for this project. But I soon realized I had to use a firmer cardboard as this one made a small warped block.

 (As seen beneath the grey bow tie)

 The following images show the weaving process. I used a stronger cardboard and a proper wool needle.

 The yarn is moved up to the ends of the loops. This gives the weaving a more organic feel.

Different weft and warp colours make the bows interesting.

The final bow ties are made by hand-stitching a brooch clip in the middle of the bow tie. A strip of felt, ribbon or material is placed in the center of the bow tie and secured.

The receding colour is repeated in the strip of material.

Some final bow ties...