Six Mens Ties To Make A ‘Fancy Fans’ Block Then Make A Beautiful Quilt

Mens Ties Kept For Good Memories And Well Used In This Fancy Fans Quilt.

Mens ties often have amazing fabric and colors. Fabric scraps are put to good use and some are made into really lovely quilts. Mens ties are like fabric scraps. There are so many uses for old ties in quilting. With a pattern provided and some tips from someone who’s had great success, you might feel confident to give this one a try.

 

Pre-wash the ties and remove the lining. Iron the ties gently. Then stabilized each tie with a very soft iron-on stabilizer. You’ll be using the small end of the ties. Open them up to cut the pattern, but leave the ends intact. The pattern template provided will show you the size to cut each tie. Put the pattern template-A on the tie and use a rotary cutter to cut around it. (Template found on page 17 of the pattern book provided in the link below).

Put the ties together to choose colors. Take different fabrics for each blade. Use six ties for each square and sew the ties together to make a fan, then applique each fan to the quilt block. If you have tried to make a fan block out of the ties and they seem to be stretching use muslin on the back of the fans to help stabilize the fabric.

Use white fabric for the background squares because it really sets off all of the colors in the ties. Love To Quilt from Quilting Board mentions that for her tie quilt 192 ties were needed. There were only 171 ties available for this quilt, so 21 ties had to be used twice. Assemble them so no two ties are the same or too similar. Fabric requirements for the blocks are provided in the pattern.

The original pattern for the quilt has a scalloped border. The border was changed to a braid which looks amazing and used up a lot more ties. Get the free tutorial to see how to make a Friendship Braid here.

Use the ‘Fancy Fans’ pattern provided, ironically, in ‘Quick Quilts From The Heart’ by Fons and Porter. The pattern starts on page 14. It may seem a little confusing at first as the ‘Fancy Fans’ quilt looks different from the quilt in the book. Also, the pattern in the book has instructions to use two colors on each fan blade, and much more color is being used because of the ties. The original pattern shows a scalloped border, while a braid border was used for the tie quilt, which looks great and is much nicer for a mans quilt.

Stitch in the ditch for each fan. The finished size of the quilt is 90 X 75. The blocks are 11 x 11. The quilt is really heavy because of all of the thick knit ties, but it looks amazing.

If you do not have a collection of ties saved up in a bag, thrift stores will welcome your support. A Quilting Board member wrote saying that she had bought 91 ties for $19.80, an average .22 cents each! Start collecting.

The quilt was made using the pattern ‘Fancy Fans’ found in the book ‘Quick Quilts From the Heart’ by Fons and Porter and is available for purchase. You might also find the book at your local library.

The talented lady who made this quilt was given 171 ties from a lady at her church. She worked at this quilt, tireless in the completion, having the quilt ready to give back to the lady the same morning after the memorial service was done for her husband. The quilt was given to the lady that morning in Church. I am certain she will get a lot of comfort from her late husbands ties in this beautiful quilt, made with so much love. What a lovely gift.

I do not know the name of the lady who made this precious quilt, except that she is a member, and shared this quilt on Quilting Board. She has diligently answered many peoples requests for help and advice over time regarding the tie quilt, and it is from that dialogue, starting from way back in 2009 that I have tried to piece the details together.