Dad's Ties--Post 2

Ties from Bob's dad

It has been a long time since I posted about this project! My first post was Wednesday, March 7, 2018! Eleven ties isn't a lot of fabric to work into a project. My friend JoJo made a tuffet and I thought that would be the perfect project for these ties. My mom would enjoy having a memory tuffet of her dad's ties.

I knew I didn't have enough for a tuffet because these ties are narrow and the project uses 64 two inch strips that are 21 inches long. I asked a couple of my small group to donate a tie or two. Laura gave me one of her dad's ties. Julie gave me two ties that her husband wore. Heidi gave me two ties that her policer officer husband wore. Each tie is special. I am honored to have the extras! I most likely will need even more; but, my plan is to prepare these first. 

In my previous post, I had planned to wash the ties. I did the research and decided it was too "iffy" to wash the ties because of the fabric content. The ties are mostly rayon if there is a fabric content label!

Ties washed and ready for cutting into strips

As I handled the ties, they felt "dirty." Likely, these ties hung in a closet and collected dust for many years before my grandmother placed them in the box. I decided to use a little Dawn liquid dish detergent (the original Dawn which is blue) to hand wash each tie. 

I gently scrubbed the soiled spots and swished the tie in the suds. Washing was a good choice because the water was brown in all but two of the washings! Two of the ties did bleed. The stains didn't come out completely. The wool blend tie developed some holes which meant that some moths were busy. I was not able to salvage a large enough piece from the wool tie for this project. Overall, the ties were brighter after washing.

The directions for the tuffet state that six strips can be cut from each tie. At least half of the ties are less than six inches at their widest point and less than four inches at their narrowest point. I had hoped that I could cut four strips each tie and that I could piece the parts into strips. I decided to save the pieces for another project. I found that I could cut two pieces from each tie.

Ties prepared for stitching

I did recruit ties from my husband. He was glad to contribute because he doesn't care to attend an event where a tie should be worn. The ties he contributed were ones his dad wore. He still has a few ties in case he changes his mind about those "tie" events.

Even with all the "additional" ties, I didn't have enough. I needed 32 ties and I started with 11! I decided to place a dark brown fabric between each tie. The neutral would allow the ties to contrast more in the project. The neutral would also reduce the total ties need for the project in half! Currently, I'm stuck with cutting the two ties with the print because I won't be able to symmetrically capture the print.

Many years ago, a friend who was on a trip to New York City brought back the type of interfacing that Paula Nadelstern used when she pieced with silk fabric.  This is what I used for the ties. I found that while it was light, the fusible on it wasn't good enough to make it stick. Perhaps, the glue needed a higher heat setting; but, the tie fabric couldn't tolerate a higher temperature. 

Hand drawn watercolor card

Maybe in the next week, I'll start piecing the strips together.

Regarding Covid:

Worldwide: 8.75M confirmed; 463K deaths

U.S,:  2.3M confirmed;  715K recovered; 121K deaths

Oregon: 6,572K confirmed; 188 deaths

Since the protests, the number of confirmed cases are rising as is the number of deaths. We are still in phase 1 of the recovery plan. The governor decided to put seven counties which had rising cases on hold in phase one. The last county in the state was allowed to move to phase 1. The media is reporting that the rising cases are due to a combination of increased testing and workplace incidents.

The protests and violence continue. Protesters dumped the
Lincoln statue which stood outside of Lincoln High School in Portland. Protesters dumped two pioneer statues on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene. Workers are removing the Lewis and Clark statues from the University of Portland Campus. The statue of York, Clark's slave companion, was removed earlier in the week. I value free speech. I am dumbfounded as to how destroying property contributes to their cause.

Fish tie

To end on a more positive note, Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's! Yesterday, I visited a new to me quilt shop which could easily become my go to shop. That was my first "fun" type outing since the stay at home order back in March. I decided shopping for a Father's Day card for my husband was non essential so I made one for him.

We have had so much fun fishing for walleye that I tried to recreate a walleye fish on his card. I'm happy that he recognized what I was trying to do!

Then he said, "I have the perfect tie to match." Of course he did and I have the photo to prove it! He said his dad used to wear this tie when there was a bet about who would land the first fish!

Yesterday, we tried a food truck for dinner. I wanted to take him to one for dinner today; but, he wanted to cook a prime rib and have a social distant dinner with our daughter and her family. It is his day and he get to do what he wants! His prime rib is delicious!