{Tutorial} Make Your Own Cool Tie

I've bought quite a few "cool" ties in the past. Last year I stumbled across a tutorial (of course I can't remember which blog it was on), and made my own. I took crappy
 photo's of it, and by the time I was ready to blog about it--it was mid-October. Although, it was still needed in Florida the rest of the country was starting to break out the winter jackets. I decided to wait, and in doing so I've made quite a few since my first attempt. I had family in town from Pittsburgh this past weekend, and made one for each person, so they could use it while sweating to death galavanting around Disney World. 

Supplies:

1 scrap of fabric; 4 inches wide by 45 inches long (you can make this as short as 30 inches long)

1 tablespoon of Cracked Ice Crystals *You can find this in the floral section at Michael's for around $5--you should get about 5-6 ties out of one package. 

coordinating thread, straight pins, scissors, tape measure, and iron

Cut your piece of fabric out, fold it in half long wise (right sides together). With a hot iron using steam press the fabric together. Sew a straight stitch along the open end of the fabric (essentially creating a tube). Make sure you leave both ends open--it makes it easier to turn it inside out. 

Once you've created the tube, carefully (and patiently) turn the tube inside out. 

Next, you'll want to measure out your "cool tie". This cool tie happened to only be 40 inches long, so a good half way point was at the 15 and 25 mark. You'll want at least 10 inches of space for your cracked ice crystals to expand. Once you've pinned this. Sew one of the sides closed. 

Add one tablespoon to the neck tie. Some blogs will recommend only a teaspoon or two, I found that the happy medium is a tablespoon. Trust me after an hour or two of being wet these cracked ice crystals will expand and fill up the entire 10+ inch tube! Once you fill the tube make sure all the crystals are at the bottom of the sewn section. Sew the other side to close the tube along with around the perimeter of the tie itself. *Essentially you will only be sewing around 10 inches. Lastly, you'll want to sew each of the ends closed. I choose to fold in the fabric, press it with the iron and sew a straight stitch on this cool tie. However, I have sewn a variety of decorative stitches to close them cool ties. 

Finished product!

This is what your final product will look like once you wet it. Take note you will need to soak it in cold water for a few minutes to allow the cracked ice crystals to start to expand. 

At this point the gel had only somewhat expanded in the tie. 

*Here is what it will look like if you put over 1 tablespoon of crystals in the tie. The gels inside the cool tie will keep expanding hours after it's been wet. It will look like it wants to explode. *Excuse my cell phone picture... I wanted to be able to show you what it looks like fully expanded. **Take a look on the left side of the picture--That's Mr. Woodsy with his neon green cool tie that he wore as a headband to mock his childhood idols; The Ninja Turtles!