As a queer femme seamstress¹ I’m often asked to alter clothes for my GNC friends. One of the most common requests I get is shortening ties. Masculine afab people (butches, studs, trans men etc.) often find that standard neckties are too long, because afab folks (on average) are shorter and have smaller necks than cisgender men. So I’ve written up a tutorial to help masc afab folks and their allies alter neckties like a pro!
There are many ways to shorten a necktie.
The fastest:
The most professional:
You will need:
- scissors
- seam ripper
- hand sewing needle and thread
- straight pins
- an iron
- a ruler
- a fabric marking tool (chalk or a disappearing ink fabric pen)
- a sewing machine (preferred but not strictly necessary)
Overview:
This may seem counterintuitive but it really is the easiest way to shorten a tie (short of chopping it off like Jim from The Office):
- remove excess fabric from the middle of the tie (so you don’t have to re-set the lined, mitered corners at each end of the tie),
- remove excess interlining from the narrow end of the tie (so you don’t have to lap or piece interlining in the middle of the tie)
The process, in detail:
- Try the tie (or ties) on to get accurate measurements. This means trying the ties on with a dress shirt and slacks, and tying the ties how you would normally tie them. Tie the tie such that the tip of the tie just touches the top of your belt buckle when you’re standing upright. Then mark on the narrow end of the tie (the part that’s underneath) where it would have to end such that it would be long enough to go through the loop at the back of the wide end of the tie, but there’s no risk of it peeking out the bottom
- Once you have all your ties marked, you’re going to look for the diagonal seam, or one of the two diagonal seams if there are multiple. It should be at roughly the halfway point.
- Next you’ll use your seam ripper to open up the tie lengthwise and at one of the diagonal seams.
*ties are sewn on the bias, meaning that the fabric is cut and sewn at a 45 degree angle from the grain line. This makes them flexible enough to comfortably go around necks and tie into knots. But it also makes them less stable than garments and accessories that are cut on-grain. All this to say: use a light hand when working with your tie so that you don’t accidentally stretch or warp the fabric.
4. Once you’ve opened up your tie, you’ll be able to pull out the narrow end of the interlining. (The wide end can stay in the tie, no need to mess with that) Trim the narrow end of the interlining to the desired length.
5. Then you’ll trim one side of the opened 45 degree seam the same amount you trimmed the interlining, minus ½”. That half inch is for seam allowance. (the fabric needs seam allowance, the interlining doesn’t)
6. Pin and re-stitch the 45 degree seam at the desired length. (ideally this part is done on a sewing machine, but if you don’t have a sewing machine you can do a running stitch by hand, using a short stitch length)
7. Press the seam open, without allowing the width of the tie fabric to get stretched or shrunken down.
*this is the last time you’ll really press the fabric. After this you’ll just gently steam the fabric to manipulate it. Ties should not have crispy crunchy edges.
8. Put the interlining back into the tie
9. Use your iron to gently steam the backside of the tie back into place, folding and lapping one side of the tie fabric over the other. Try to keep this fold soft. That will make it much easier to handle when you’re hand sewing. Pin the long fold in place.
10. Stitch the length of the tie closed by hand using a ladder stitch (a stitch that runs invisibly between the lapped side and the underside).
11. End with a bar tack.
12. Finish your hand sewing with a knot hidden under the lapped side of the tie back.
Ta-da! Now you have an expertly-finished tie and no one will be able to tell that you shortened it.
Footnote:
- I know that “seamstress” is not the preferred language for most people who sew. I prefer it because it pays homage to the centuries of women who worked in the spinning, weaving and sewing guilds and passed their knowledge down from generation to generation. I also think that “seamstress” should be adopted as the gender-neutral term for a person who sews, because “sewer” and “sewist” sound silly.