The Tie That Binds . . .

Well, this will be Hayden's first year in Orchestra! In order to be in Orchestra you have to dress the part for concerts. So Hayden will have to wear black dress pants, a white button-up shirt and a black tie.
Hayden does get dressed up every Sunday for Church but he has always preferred to wear a polo-type shirt with his dress pants. Tyler on the other hand LOVES suits and ties. But, the ties have always been clip-ons. I decided that I wanted Hayden to have a REAL tie so we bought him the kind that you must tie yourself. This is where the trouble began because NO ONE in our house knows how to tie a tie.

Really, how hard could it be???

We decided to go straight to the best source for tying a a tie - the Internet!
We found all kinds of instructional things . . . did you know there is more than one way to tie a tie? There is the Full Windsor, Half Windsor, The Four Hand and more! Oh my, what did I get myself into. . .
Here is some shots of ONE of the guys we tried to rely on to help us do this!

We started off okay . . . we figured out how to get it around his neck, this wasn't too difficult.

It went downhill from there, and quickly!

I think we were trying to do a "full Windsor" and this one ended up just a bit short.

I honestly can't tell you what happened here . . .

Well, after looking at different videos we learned that certain styles work for certain shirts and builds . . The full Windsor was for wide collars and stocky necks - definitely not Hayden! We decided to go with the half Windsor and after at LEAST a half of an hour we finally got it mostly right!

They mentioned that you should never leave the tie tied up and just move it open and closed that it will ruin the fabric. They say you should re-tie it every time.

I think I will take my chances with ruining the fabric! I think I actually broke into a sweat while trying to learn this.

Now everytime I see a guy wearing a nice shaped tie, I feel much respect for that man!