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.