Bow Ties

Hello for the final time everyone! Can you believe that the quarter’s almost over? It felt like it went by so quickly. For this final post here I decided I’d switch it up from the usual tie knots, and go more in-depth into something else. Fortunately, that something is actually very useful for me, so not only will this be a good learning experience, it will also help me out a lot in my life. I bet you’re all wondering what it is I’m doing at this point if you hadn’t read the title already, so here it is: Bow Ties. Since this is a very different style in comparison to the normal tie, this entire post will be dedicated to covering everything that I can about the bow tie.

When reading about the bow tie, one of the first lines immediately let me know what I was getting in to. According to the author, the bow tie is the most challenging classic knot in the book. However, one shouldn’t just skip over it and buy a pre-tied one (Jin 29). Reading this, I knew right away that if I wanted to use this then I would have to really take my time and do it correctly. So, in relation to my life, for the Wind Ensemble concerts that I preform in we are required to wear a bow tie along with our tuxedo. However, with how long this knot is bound to take, if I end up being in a hurry to get the concert, I may not attempt to tie it. Even though it will look good, sometimes I just don’t have enough time.

Despite all of this, there was a couple lines that really spoke to me. They said, “Your unintended tying imperfections actually bring character to this style, as no two self-tied bow ties are alike. With a little practice you will get it” (Jin 29). This statement gave me more motivation to try to learn how to do this. They showed me that despite how long or how complicated it may be, the time you spend tying a bow tie is worth it. So, if the time permits, then I will most definitely take the time to properly tie the bow tie. Also, this reassured me because it let me know that if I messed up a bit it will be alright.

Below here is step by step pictures on how I tied my bow tie. I’m not going to do a video only because of how complicated it is. It will probably be easier for you all to replicate this if you have the pictures. Hope you enjoy!

Start with the long end to the left and 

cross it over the shorter end.

 Tuck the long end through the neck loop.

Double the short end over itself to make

a bow shape. 

Drop the longer end over the bow shape

and create a bow shape behind the current one. 

Tuck the last bow made through the loop

of the bow in front and adjust to your liking.

After tying the bow tie, I found that it really is as hard as the book says it is. I spent about a half an hour trying to get it to look right just for practice and then another 10 minutes trying to replicate it for the camera.  So, a word of advice: if you want to try this knot, it is VERY hard so be sure that you have enough time to tie it correctly. Also, to tighten the tie all you have to do is pull on both ends and the knot will get tighter. This may look simple with only five steps but I can assure you that it takes some work to to get done right.

Overall, I’d say that this section taught me the most important lesson in terms of how much it will impact my life. I tend to get caught up in smaller details, and am a bit of a perfectionist. At times this can be extremely stressful for me because there are some things that I just can’t get 100% right. This passage truly has shown me that I don’t have to worry about the little errors in things. It taught me that beauty and the uniqueness come not in how perfect something looks but rather in the imperfections. From now on I will try to just do the best I can and not overly stress myself out about making sure everything is perfect. Hopefully this will help because at the moment there’s a lot of stress in my life.

Thank you all for going through this journey with me! The quarter went by so fast! I hope all of your blogs went well, and good luck for the next semester! Here’s the final questions: Have you ever had an instance where you stress yourself out just to make something perfect? What do you do to counteract that mindset? Have you ever tied your own bow tie?

Once again, thank you all so much! It’s almost a little sad that this is over… oh well! See you all later! Also, bow ties are cool. :P

-Logan Munoz :D

Jin, Ryan Tristan. How to Tie a Tie a Gentleman's Guide to Getting Dressed. New York: Potter Style, 2015. Print.