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Home Blog July 2009

Archive for July, 2009

How to Tie a Scarf - Butterfly Knot

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 by ellen

The ways to tie a scarf could be countless. Here is another creative way to tie your scarf - butterfly knot:

1. wrap around your neck with a scarf, make a simple knot with the right half below;

2. fold the righ half evenly;

3. put the folded half underneath the left part and then cross the left half following the arrow direction as in the photo;

4. make the knot tight.

A butterfly knot is done. The picture shows you the process and is found in wenxuecity.

how to tie a scarf -  butterfly knot

Effect from the Tax for Online Stores

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 by ellen

Because of the government financial deficit, some states in US are aiming at the tax on the online stores. They wish that the tax from the online stores can help to reduce the deficit.

The online retailers are definitely not happy with this idea. Amazon even sued the New York State because New York Sate requires online retailers should collect the tax from the buyers in New York. The State is even considering the tax on the music download.

How much could be the tax revenue if collected? Forrester Research had a rough idea. The online sale is 204 billion in 2008 so government could increase the tax revenue 3 billion.

However, it is not that easy to implement the tax collection for the national online retailers. Different states have different tax rates even for a same product. Also, Supreme Court of the United States passed a rule that state governments can’t force companies to collect the sale taxes for them except the companies have business in those states. Considering the current global economic crisis, more tax collection maybe not the hot topic.

How to Choose a Tie

Sunday, July 26th, 2009 by ellen

Even most of companies and organizations have more relaxed dress code, but a nice tie is still an important accessory of your dress. The men’s tie is one of a few ways to distinguish themselves from one another. However, people can be really lost when they face a huge selection of ties. To make sure you choose the right tie when you dress, take these factors into consideration to help yourself choose exactly the tie you need.

Length
Most of neckties are 55 - 57 inch in length and the wide end is about 3.5 - 4 inch. There is no absolute right for the length. Check if the bottom tip of your tie nearly reaches the buckle of your belt.  So the right length of the tie depends on your own height.

Fabric
You can find ties made of various fabrics including polyester, silk, cotton and wool in the current market. In the routine days, all ties can do well. The silk has some special features which are good for ties: drape well and wrinkle resistant. Silk ties are always the first choice if affordable.

Pattern
Ties are available in a large number of patterns, such as stripes, plaid, and parsley. Do not be scared. One tip solves all: let your suit, shirt and tie complement each other. Go for opposite is the trick for your decision. Striped shirt is for plain tie and vice versa.

Color
Same as the pattern choice, make your suit, shirt and tie match each other. Also consider the season timing, usually darker from summer to winter.

Occasion
It is one of the most important factors you should consider. No cartoon or novelty ties are for serious occasion such as business meeting.

Quality inspection
Besides the fabric label, remember to check the lining of the tie. The good tie should hang without twisting when you sling it in your hand. Also snags, frayed and loose threads.

Still more you should consider such as your face shape and skin color. All in all, there is no absolutely right or wrong for your choice. What you can do is to make a balance considering those factors with your own feature. Be you own and be confident with yourself with a tie like Obama either in the election-winning night or Men of the Year by GQ magazine.

obama silk ties - Men of the Year

obama silk ties - Obama - Men of the Year by GQ magazine

obama red tie at the winning night

Obama -election winning night with a striped tie



How to Care for Silk

Sunday, July 26th, 2009 by ellen

Silk garments and accessories always have a luxury position in your wardrobe. By knowing the right way to clean, dry, press, and store silk, you can give your silk garments with a prolonged life. Here are general tips for silk care including cleaning, drying, pressing, and storing silk.

Silk Cleaning

Three ways you can try are hand wash, machine wash, and dry clean.

Hand wash is recommended for almost all silk products with current weaving technology. Hand wash is recommended with an important advantage: it will refresh and rejuvenate the silk fabric with warm water washing. The following rules you should remember during the hand wash: use warm water and mild, non-alkaline soap or good shampoo; completely rinse with clean water added a few tablespoon white vinegar or a few drops of hair conditioner for extra silky feel; Soaking time is never longer than a few minutes; No harsh detergents that contain bleaches or brighteners.

Machine wash is feasible with new model washing machines, such as LG, Bosch. You can use silk setting at a temperature of no more than 86°F (30°C) and selected detergents that contain no enzymes and brighteners. Using a mesh bag and separating colors are highly recommended.

Dry clean is the last resort if necessary. But you should let dry cleaner know that it is silk and make sure that they know how to clean silk.

Drying Tips

Even if you machine wash, never use a machine dryer to dry any silk. Water can be pressed out by rolling the silk item up in the towel. Never wring or twist silk. When most of the water is out, silk garments or accessories are best to hung to dry. Some silk, such as bourette, should be dried on a flat surface. Avoid strong and direct sunlight.

Pressing

Always high temperature can make damage to your silk. If necessary, Iron the silk while damp using Silk setting on the iron. Most wrinkles in silk can be removed by hanging in the bathroom during a shower.

Storage

For long term storage, keep the silk away from sunlight, dust without plastic package.

How to Make a Tie

Saturday, July 25th, 2009 by ellen

Ties are almost all mass produced at present. Few people think they will customize a tie for themselves. However, you can learn about the procedure to make a tie for your curiosity. Also, you know how to choose a tie next time when you go for tie hunting. Even make a surprise to the sales people there. Two major types of ties are in the current market: four-in-hand and seven-fold. The four-in-hand neckties are the most popular ones and the seven-fold are usually the most luxury ones folded to seven sections from a square silk fabric. The following process is for the four-in-hand.

We briefly introduce the important technical terms for ties before we go into the details. From the fabric viewpoint, a tie is made of three fabrics including outer fabric, inlay, and lining. The outer fabric is the front face of your ties. It is mostly silk or polyester and silk is taken as an example here. The inlay is the embedding piece wrapped by the outer silk. Cotton, wool, or polyester is quite common for the inlay. The lining is the back side of ties at both ends. It is sewn together with the outer silk to hold the inlay. The lining fabric can be the same silk fabric as the outer fabric or polyester.

Cutting

All above three components are cut from a sheet of raw fabric. The cut pieces are specified by templates. The actual production implements three ways to cut: indirect paper template, directly on the fabric, computer automatic. The cutting is one of the most important steps for the making of ties, especially for the inlay. It should have a perfect fill for the outer silk exactly up to the edge. The common four-in-hand ties consist of three sections: large end, small end, and the join section. The join section connects both ends. You can take a look at your own tie for the three sections which can be identified through the sewing line.

Sewing

This process is mainly working on both ends of ties with the same procedure. The outer silk fabric and lining are sewn together. It is like a holder which can embed the inlay inside. This sewing process is usually done by machine.

Joining the three sections

Put together the three parts including the large end, small end, the middle section and fill the lining inside.

Initial steaming

The face side of the silk is spread on the table and the lining is positioned in the exactly middle. The extra part to the lining from outer silk is folded to the center line and the same for the other side. The high quality means that the folding edge has a good match for the lining edge. The steaming makes the firm folding shape and the final form is fixed with pins.

Hand-made Stitching

The manual stitch is made following the pinned center line. Two tips are the common ways to check if your ties are hand-made. First, check if there are lucky knots on the both end at the back side. The lucky knot is the lateral sewing thread 2-3 cm to the end of the center line. If it has one, you are lucky enough with a hand-made tie. Second, take a look at the center stitching line for the stitch thread density. If hand-made, that will be less dense than 4 threads within 4cm length. The machine one is usually more than 12 threads within 3cm.

Final steaming

As the last step, a tie has to be streamed carefully to remove any creases.

The whole tie making process is not that difficult. After you know the working flow, you have an expert viewpoint on how to select a high quality tie.

How to Tie a Scarf - Tongue Knot

Saturday, July 25th, 2009 by ellen

Here is another way to tie your favorite scarf. It is good for a oblong scarf. It has such a funny name because the final shape likes a human’s tongue.

1. Wrap your scarf around your neck with the right hand side above;

2. The longer right hand side crosses the central room;

3. The right hand side goes through the central space with a folded shape.

Refer to the following picture for the whole process. The picture is found in the wenxuecity.

a way to tie a scarf - tongue knot

a way to tie a scarf - tongue knot

TieToSuccess.com Extreme Makeover

Saturday, July 25th, 2009 by ellen

First of All, thank you for our customers’ support and patience during our website’s makeover. Based on our previous experience and our loyal customers’ feedback, we make a big renovation for our website: http://www.tietosuccess.com.  The major changes include more product classification which make customers locate their choices easier, multiple product photos with zoom function which provides more product details for customers, and more functions will be added including categorized FAQ, Glossary, and updated blog. All those new or updated functions are objective to provide better service for our clients. The makeover is never end for us which is the same as our service to our customers. We hope our makeover makes your online shopping much easier and you love our products  as before or even more. We will keep going to provide the best product lines in the market including handbags, silk scarves, silk ties, jewelry including necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and more accessories including cufflinks and key chains.  Also, we will continue to share our expert tips, knowledge, trend in the fashion field in our blog. As the first blog after our makeover, we wish every one has a successful future as our site name suggests.