"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace
that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding." Ephesians 1:7-8

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

All Tied Up

Thankfully, no one is literally tied up over here! :) (At least not today!)

So, I've been conflicted recently about "dressing up" for Easter. It sort of takes the focus off what Easter is really all about. It's certainly not about how cute my kids are or how much money I'm willing to shell out for coordinating outfits. As much as my goal may be to allow the events of Easter to make an impact on every day life, I do think it is important to really set apart Resurrection Day as a special day of celebration and worship. It seems to me that when the boys are dressed more carefully their behavior tends to be more respectful and a little less wild. Still in process here... or perhaps I'm just justifying my urge to dress them up? hmmm...

Anyway, I wanted to dress them intentionally this Easter but didn't want to spend a lot of money. I suddenly had the inspiration to make them ties. I found a great tutorial HERE. (Just to note... our church is not dressy and Darin never wears ties, but the boys had been asking for a tie so I was excited to indulge them.) I was looking for a spring plaid, but settled on the bike fabric below. I think it's pretty cute.

Since I'm not planning to make them dresses, this was a fun boy project. Most of the tie was made without a sewing machine and really all of it could have been hand sewn. I found some great YouTube videos to remind me how to do a slip stitch. There is so much information out there! Definitely a manageable project for a beginner.

Two things I learned: First,  if you can, find a more slippery fabric. It was tricky to tie the cotton quilting fabric I used. Second, it was not expensive, but also not as cheap as I thought. Since the tie is cut on the bias, you need more fabric then you would think. I shortened the pattern for Aaron's tie so it wasn't too long. 


I thought about making Darin a tie that matched, but decided against it. :) 
I think that was a wise decision. I'm sure Darin's glad too. 

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