Thursday, December 10th, My Christmas project

Thought I would share my latest journey into madness. I decided to make my dad a quilt for Christmas out of his old ties. I don't think by posting, he would find out because his computer is so slow and it would never load all of this information.
In May of 2007, the girls and I spent a day with mom in their bedroom cleaning out the closet. It was a huge task and dad had at least 50-60 ties. Now my dad only wears a tie to church and the funeral home, and many of them were so outdated or stained that we got it down to about 40, and I took the rest. For Father's Day that year, I made him a pillow:He didn't take it very well, and scolded me for taking his ties and cutting them up. It took him almost 2 weeks to call and thank me for the gift, only after mom made him. So we will have to see how he takes it this time. I mean the ties are already deconstructed, so no harm no foul!! A good friend of mine also gave me a sack full, so I have a huge selection.
This process began a few weeks ago. I washed them in warm water and dried them.
Then, I began the painstaking process of taking them apart. This took an entire 4 hours of movie or TV watching to do. There is a holding stitch on the wide side that needs to be cut, then there is a long running stitch that can be pulled to take the whole seam apart. Then the "guts" need to come out.
Then I pressed them flat and cut the bottom seam off:
Next, I fused interfacing to the wrong sides of three ties at a time. This is necessary because ties are cut on the bias and the fabric is very unstable. Then it should be easier to sew.
Next, I cut the piece into 1 1/2 inch strips. When I started cutting them, I was cutting the narrow way, but I found if I cut the long way, I get much more usable material.
I then get rid of the short ends and start my cutting process:The jagged ends get pitched and then I have some nice strips to work with:Last step before sewing is sorting into my needed lengths. My friends will be happy to know that I am not trying to be "matchy-matchy", but this is going to be totally scrappy with a pattern in mind. Stay tuned for the finished product. Will he get it finished on Christmas morning? I don't think so, but I am going to wrap what I have finished and then take it back to complete it.