All Tied Up: A Little Munchkin Tie Tutorial

Easter has snuck up on me. It generally does. I always manage to think I have a week or two extra, and then, oops, it's THIS weekend. The big question of course is what to wear...not so much for me as for the little fella'. I checked out the consignment store racks only to be left thinking, "The 'nice' clothes are still too expensive second hand, and he's so going to outgrow this stuff in like a week." So, I pulled out the old thinking cap, and decided on making a tie. It seemed fairly simple and like a nice wardrobe update that might actually last a little while.
Please excuse the over sized model:
Two tries later, and I finally have something that I'm quite pleased with. Being my slightly crazy self, I opted out of using a pattern because a) I didn't have one and b) I almost never use them anyway, so why start now? Here's an attempt at a tutorial describing how I went about this little adventure in tie-land.
First, I decided to take a cue from Bek and put some elastic at the neck. Because of this, I drew the pattern in two pieces. It's pretty simple you just tape a row of paper together, fold it in half, and draw half a tie shape, then cut. My dimensions were: Piece 1 (the actual tie looking one) 25" long, 1 3/8" wide at the narrowest point, 4" at the widest. You want to begin a fairly sharp taper at the point at which you anticipate placing the knot. In my case that was about 9" from the bottom point. Piece 2 (the short, skinny one) 15 1/2" by 1 3/8"
Pick out your main fabric as well as a liner fabric (I lined mine with a piece of an old white bed sheet). Cut your fabric. You'll need one of each shape from the main and liner fabrics. Pin pieces right sides together. Sew reinforcing your corners and leaving a space for turning. I only used about an 1/8" seam to avoid excessive trimming. Trim where necessary. Turn. Iron from the top side, so you can make sure it looks good. Neatly tuck and iron the space left from turning. Top stitching will take care of closing it. Now, top stitch both of your pieces. Cut a length of elastic. Mine was about 4 inches. Sew your elastic to the appropriate ends of your tie pieces. You now have a tie. I tied a half Windsor knot: tutorial here. Come Sunday, I can slip it over Levi's head and call it an Easter outfit.
Hope y'all are having a happy (or should I say "hoppy") week!!