Bow tie problem

JAH · Jul 18, 2016

My bow tie keeps coming out like this... Is it a tying issue or could it be too short? It's one size tie, in theory in the correct size, but wondering if it could do with a little more length. Any thoughts please? I'd like to wear it to an occasion tomorrow but can't at the moment!

JAH · Jul 18, 2016

Also, if it could be longer, I will need to get it exchanged.

scotrace · Jul 18, 2016

I would think you aren't keeping the fabric flat as you're creating the bow, allowing that center bit of fabric to twist.

This is the best tutorial I've ever found. I'm terrible at doing bows, and have to have this dumb thing open to follow step by step to get it right every time. But it does work, every time.
(it's long and detailed)

Edward · Jul 18, 2016

Yeah, you need to avoid twisting it to get that top foldover gone. If you just mean tighter and neater overall, you might find it's the fabric. That bow looks like marcella cotton (specifically, a bow for full formal evening wear - white tie). They are a beast to tie when new or recently laundered, I can tell you that from experience. Silk bows, on the other hand, can be much easier. Worth trying a few - you'll find what is "you" in no time.

As to tying bows, it's as much a matter of familiarity than anything. I used to really struggle with it at the start, but I've now been wearing a bow tie two or three times a week for the guts of six or eight years now, and it's as much second nature as a four in hand. Practice, practice, practice! Believe me, it's well worth it, not least for the gasps of admiration from the pretty girl at the party when you casually unfasten it at the end of the night, and everyone realises you wear a *real* bow....

Dreamofgilgamesh · Jul 18, 2016

As the other chaps have said, you've simply put a twist in it, nothing a bit of practice won't put to rights.

drcube01 · Jul 19, 2016

Tying a bow tie is easy. It's just like tying your shoes. The hard part is adjusting it, tightening it, and arranging it so it looks nice.

Your bow tie looks like it could be tighter (just pull the bows harder, and then the tails to even them up, etc, until it's both tight and even). And the twist could just be moved to the back of the knot, no biggie. Also, slightly "off" knots look nice, if you wanted a perfect knot, you'd just buy a pre-tied bow tie.

JAH · Aug 11, 2016

Thanks everyone. I found the following to be usefully specific and detailed:

Managed to get it looking good I think.

Edward · Aug 11, 2016

Definately! Well done. Just wear one regularly now and it will become second nature.

samtemporary · Jan 2, 2017

The wings of my bows tend to migrate upwards over time...I'm assuming I'm not quite tying them correctly.

GHT · Jan 2, 2017

Edward said:
As to tying bows, it's as much a matter of familiarity than anything. I used to really struggle with it at the start, but I've now been wearing a bow tie two or three times a week for the guts of six or eight years now, and it's as much second nature as a four in hand. Practice, practice, practice! Believe me, it's well worth it, not least for the gasps of admiration from the pretty girl at the party when you casually unfasten it at the end of the night, and everyone realises you wear a *real* bow....

Practice is really what it's all about. Bow ties were covered in a thread some years ago, I remember a demonstration by Charles, he helped me crack it:

Charles also makes tying the necktie in a Windsor knot, look like child's play.

Tiki Tom · Jan 16, 2017

Ball season here in Vienna. I will be going to one in the Hofburg Palace in a few weeks. (I know, I'm a terrible "place dropper". But I figure, if I ever start to take it for granted, it will be time to move back to the States.)

First I dug out my tux and tried it on to make sure it still fits. Yes it does! Next, via the magic of Youtube I had to re-teach myself again how to tie the bow tie. I only wear one about once a year, so I usually need a refresher course. In about a half hour I was doing a decent job. There is some truth to the notion that it is just like tying a shoe. The trick is to then adjust it till it looks right. Relax. Think about what each step is attempting to do. Be patient. Your worst enemy is allowing yourself to become frustrated. I'll practice a few times between now and the ball so that on the big night I can do it easily.

I'm firmly of the view that a self-tied bow tie should not look absolutely perfect. A bow tie that is absolutely perfect is a clip-on tie. Bow ties should show a little bit of character ...perhaps be a little puffy or with the back bows not 100% lining-up with the front. Nothing too extreme, mind you; just enough so that anyone who cares to notice such things will appreciate that it was a hand-made artisanal effort. Look at pictures of Winston Churchill. Those bow ties are sometimes pretty quirky, in a good way.

Edward said:
Believe me, it's well worth it, not least for the gasps of admiration from the pretty girl at the party when you casually unfasten it at the end of the night, and everyone realises you wear a *real* bow....

+1

JAH · Jan 16, 2017

I'd love to be in Vienna for ball season - place drop all you like!

Since writing the original post, I've had a few occasions to wear bow ties, and it's now become completely natural, which was hard to imagine at first, so definitely worth finding excuses to wear one!

Tiki Tom said:
Ball season here in Vienna. I will be going to one in the Hofburg Palace in a few weeks. (I know, I'm a terrible "place dropper". But I figure, if I ever start to take it for granted, it will be time to move back to the States.)

First I dug out my tux and tried it on to make sure it still fits. Yes it does! Next, via the magic of Youtube I had to re-teach myself again how to tie the bow tie. I only wear one about once a year, so I usually need a refresher course. In about a half hour I was doing a decent job. There is some truth to the notion that it is just like tying a shoe. The trick is to then adjust it till it looks right. Relax. Think about what each step is attempting to do. Be patient. Your worst enemy is allowing yourself to become frustrated. I'll practice a few times between now and the ball so that on the big night I can do it easily.

I'm firmly of the view that a self-tied bow tie should not look absolutely perfect. A bow tie that is absolutely perfect is a clip-on tie. Bow ties should show a little bit of character ...perhaps be a little puffy or with the back bows not 100% lining-up with the front. Nothing too extreme, mind you; just enough so that anyone who cares to notice such things will appreciate that it was a hand-made artisanal effort. Look at pictures of Winston Churchill. Those bow ties are sometimes pretty quirky, in a good way.

+1

Edward · Jan 16, 2017

JAH said:
Since writing the original post, I've had a few occasions to wear bow ties, and it's now become completely natural, which was hard to imagine at first, so definitely worth finding excuses to wear one!

Exactly so. As eith anything else, nothing makes a bowtie look better than it being worn unselfconsciously, and with complete confidence.

GHT · Jan 16, 2017

One of my best life experiences was to travel by train from London to Vienna, it was back in the days before the Channel Tunnel and the restored Orient Express, so we crossed the Channel by ferry changing trains in the process, but nontheless, we danced The Viennese Waltz in it's ancestral home. (Whisper this, I hadn't learned to tie a bow tie, the tie was pre-tied, but cheat that I am, I had a real tie rolled up in my pocket, at the end of the evening when many a gent was undoing his tie, I slipped into the gents and came out with the real tie hanging loose, the pre-tied, safely stowed in my pocket.)

Tiki Tom · Jan 20, 2017

Alles Walzer!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4138808/Debutants-floor-Vienna-Philharmonic-Ball.html

GHT · Jan 21, 2017

In that clip, Tom, there's a video of the Quadrille, an energetic dance, but do you know what The Quadrille inspired? Non other than The Cancan. This video is a collection of still photos showing men and women dancing The Quadrille. The ladies start to get more and more daring until they are showing off their "bloomers." (I love that word.)

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