Stitch a tie

1 Download and print the templates. Trace all the pattern pieces and cut them out. Lay cotton lawn fabric out in front of you and press. Place the upper pattern pieces on the bias grain (45° to the selvedge), pin and cut out. Iron lightweight interfacing onto the back of the tie upper pieces, following the manufacturer’s instructions.

2 Join the three upper pieces, right sides together. Pin in place, matching the notches and sew together with a 1cm seam allowance. Trim the ends of the seams that poke out at each side, so they are flush with the edges [1]. Open out and press the seams flat.

3 Press lightweight cotton fabric, then lay the lining pattern pieces on top, on the bias. Cut out. Fold up the points of each lining piece by 1cm towards the wrong side [2]. Fold in the two sides by 1cm to mitre [3]. Pin in place and press.

4 Repeat these folds on the two ends of the upper fabric, and pin and iron as before. At both ends, use ladder stitch to hand sew the two edges of the hem together where they meet at the point, to ensure it is crisp.

5 Lay out the upper fabric, wrong side up. Position the larger lining triangle, right side up, on the point of the larger end of the tie, leaving a margin of 2mm from the end. Ladder stitch the lining in place along the bottom edge V shape. Repeat with the smaller triangle at the other end of the tie.

6 Turn both long edges of the tie in by 1cm, towards the wrong side, and press [4]. Fold both of these edges in towards the middle of the tie so that they meet in the centre. Hand sew the two sides together using ladder stitch, all the way down the length of the tie.

Ladder stitch

Use this to join two pieces of fabric together

Thread a needle and knot the end. Bring the needle up through the fabric on one side, where you’d like your stitching to begin. At the same point on the other side of the gap to be closed, push the needle in and then out again, in the direction of stitching. Keep working your way along the fabric, from one side to the other.