Take A Break: Make a Wreath and Other Tie Crafts for Father’s Day

Since this coming Sunday is Father’s Day, a fun way to celebrate is to repurpose old ties. You can start by making a wreath.. Because it’s vine season here in Vermont, you can make a wreath form by wrapping the vine around in a circle. Of course, cheap Styrofoam forms are available at the Dollar Store and you might even have something tucked away in the Christmas decoration box.

The simplest way to do this is to take the tip of the tie (the tongue portion), lay it over the wreath form so it extends slightly and cut it so you have enough length to cover the wreath form and tuck it under the tongue. Work your way around and finish with a tie ribbon or even a tie flower. You’ll need about 12-14 ties for this project. Check out the Tie Wreath from Good Housekeeping.

My local thrift store doesn’t have 14 ties, let alone ones that are fairly decent, so a better approach for me is to try one of the following projects that take fewer ties.

• Use a Styrofoam cone shape and use the fronts of several ties, lengthwise, to make a mini topiary.

• Make a flower centerpiece from Old Ties: Use this site to make a variety of types of flowers. Put several together and make a lovely centerpiece for Dad’s special dinner.

• Turn a necktie into a bow tie.

• Use origami to create a bow tie. Take an old tie and undo it so you have a piece of fabric. You can do one of two things, dip it into liquid starch, let it dry, iron so that it’s the stiffness of paper and fold the bow tie using origami instructions. The other option is to cut out a rectangle 2.6 inches by 6.1 inch (the shape of a US dollar bill) and iron light weight fusible webbing (sometimes called Under Wonder) to the back and follow origami instructions. You can use a clip-on if the gent wants to wear it.

• Check out Artful Ties for a variety of projects with neck ties, including a chair.

So if a tie project isn’t something that interests you today, check out some fun videos made from Legos.
Monty Python Knights of the Round Table

The Simpson’s Intro Lego style

The Fastest and Funniest LEGO Star Wars story ever told

Other ideas for Father’s Day
• Do Something for the Dad’s