Men’s Ties Turned into Zippered Pouch

When my dad went to heaven last March, my mom began the arduous task of cleaning out his closet a couple months later. He had quite a lot of ties made by Jerry Garcia. The fabrics are gorgeous, colorful and silky. I couldn’t bear to see them go to Goodwill, so I asked if I could have them. I didn’t know what I was going to do with them, but I wanted to try to find a project that would put them to good use without being tacky!😲

I feel like I came upon the perfect idea with these little zippered pouches!

Each pouch takes two ties – one for the front and one for the back. It also uses interfacing and a fusible Shape Flex. This gives the bag more body. Cotton material is used for the lining of the bag. After getting in the groove, it took me about 1.5 hours to make the third one. I might be a little slow, but I do lots of pressing AND checking before I sew things together!

My instructions came from Polkadot Chair. Her directions were easy to follow with good pictures to guide me!

**Important – read all instructions first!

Supplies

• 2 neckties
• 7” metal zipper
• Shape-Flex Fusible Interfacing
• Fusible Fleece –
• 1 fat quarter for lining
• Zipper foot for sewing machine

Cutting Directions:

My personal note –
I made my own pattern from tissue paper, measuring 7″ x 4″. Then I cut the interfacing and fusible flex from that. It will be easier to cut your silky tie material if you iron on the interfacing and flex materials to the fabrics before cutting them into the 7 x 4″ pieces!! However, I did follow the rest of her good instructions.

Go to her site and you’ll see illustrations of each step and clear directions to make your own bag.

After I started making these, I realized that it takes very little fabric to construct a darling pouch. You could use any fabric that is special to you – it doesn’t have to be a tie. You could let your imagination go wild and have so much fun making bags that also bring some special memories, simply because of the fabric you use.

I’ve made four of these bags from my dad’s ties – one for myself and one for my each of my sisters and my mom. When I open my purse and see that fabric, now holding my lipstick, it brings such a joy to my heart!

I hope this inspires you!

Refresh some old ties or old fabric and make some special pouches!