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Bow tie woes


siforest65
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We sail on a short break on QM2 this Thursday and I couldn’t find my pre done clip on bow tie. Fancied a proper tie one so went and bought one. Can I work out how to tie it? No chance. Anyone got any tips before I go and get another clip on job?

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26 minutes ago, siforest65 said:

We sail on a short break on QM2 this Thursday and I couldn’t find my pre done clip on bow tie. Fancied a proper tie one so went and bought one. Can I work out how to tie it? No chance. Anyone got any tips before I go and get another clip on job?

My husband learned to tie his bow tie using My Nice Tie’s “How to Tie a Bow Tie (slow beginner) tutorial on youtube.

 

He watched and practiced about 10 times and had no problems. Good luck!

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One trick that helps some is to practice by tying the knot just above your knee.  That part of the leg is typically about the same size as your neck, but you are able to look directly at the knot.  So it's more like tying your shoe laces.  Once you succeed a few times on the leg, give it another try around your neck.  I bet you will be able to get a decent knot.   One you have the basic knot, you can fiddle around with pulling the ends, tightening the knot, etc. until it looks good.  Good luck!

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It's hard to describe, but there's a simple way to tie a bow. Start with the usual single knot. Then fold the two loops and tie those loops in a second single knot. I call it Ben Miller's knot because he was on some game/chat show whinging about being unable to tie shoelaces in a bow in the usual way, so he came up with this alternate method. (it's on youtube when he was on "Room 101") To be fair, it may be easier to tie it this way on someone else. DH could never tie a bow tie, and this is how I tied it on him. I found using the regular way to tie a bow difficult with the tie.

 

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siforest65,

I was in the same boat (literally) a few years ago and found many good YouTube how-to videos. Even so, it was a challenge for me and still remains so. Typically it will take me 4-6 tries and 15-20 minutes to get a really good result. But oh the satisfaction that comes from it. I'm afraid I'm a bit smug the rest of the evening, The piece de resistance is to be sitting in the Commodore's Club, at 12:01AM, and with a single motion untie that tie, ah la Frank Sinatra. So stick with it and enjoy.

 

Jack

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2 hours ago, DWhit said:

One trick that helps some is to practice by tying the knot just above your knee.  That part of the leg is typically about the same size as your neck, but you are able to look directly at the knot.  So it's more like tying your shoe laces.  Once you succeed a few times on the leg, give it another try around your neck.  I bet you will be able to get a decent knot.   One you have the basic knot, you can fiddle around with pulling the ends, tightening the knot, etc. until it looks good.  Good luck!

Thanks for this tip, my friend can't manage to tie his bow, so I end up doing it for him.  I will get him to try this and see if it works.  We are on QM2 in 4 weeks so I will report back.

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3 hours ago, Lanky Lad said:

Thanks for this tip, my friend can't manage to tie his bow, so I end up doing it for him.  I will get him to try this and see if it works.  We are on QM2 in 4 weeks so I will report back.

 

Maybe Alan should practice tying it on Vince.  EM

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5 hours ago, Lanky Lad said:

Thanks for this tip, my friend can't manage to tie his bow, so I end up doing it for him.  I will get him to try this and see if it works.  We are on QM2 in 4 weeks so I will report back.

I always have to practice a few times before I can tie a decent knot, since I just don't wear a bow tie that often.  Hope you have a great time on QM2!

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10 hours ago, DWhit said:

One you have the basic knot, you can fiddle around with pulling the ends, tightening the knot, etc. until it looks good.  Good luck!

Yep, that's how I do it. Once you have the tried it correctly but loosely then hold the looped end on one side and the single end on the other and pull. That will tighten the knot but it will be out of shape. So then hold it the opposite way round (so swap the single and looped sides) and pull again. Do that a few times and it will even out.

 

Also, I keep my finger in place once I've do the first wrap-over and that shows you where to poke the next loop.

 

Finally, remember it's not meant 100% perfect otherwise it looks like a clip-on.

 

So endeth the first lesson !

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10 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

I call it Ben Miller's knot because he was on some game/chat show whinging about being unable to tie shoelaces in a bow in the usual way

 

That's how I tie my shoelaces and always have done for 45 years+.

 

When I was about to start school I couldn't tie my laces in a bow. My old man showed me the two loops in a knot method and that's what I've done ever since.

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11 hours ago, Jack E Dawson said:

siforest65,

I was in the same boat (literally) a few years ago and found many good YouTube how-to videos. Even so, it was a challenge for me and still remains so. Typically it will take me 4-6 tries and 15-20 minutes to get a really good result. But oh the satisfaction that comes from it. I'm afraid I'm a bit smug the rest of the evening, The piece de resistance is to be sitting in the Commodore's Club, at 12:01AM, and with a single motion untie that tie, ah la Frank Sinatra. So stick with it and enjoy.

 

Jack

I am with you all the way on this.

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My Wife laughed at me whenever I had a spare moment,  I spent half an hour over the last few weeks, trying to improve my bow tie and also adjusting the length to get it right, then going downstairs and asking is this OK.   She's perfected the answer Yes Dear. 

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3 hours ago, tv24 said:

Just  bring a dark tie and wear that with your white shirt and black suit.  Skip the dress code drama.  You will look just fine and elegant.

A gentleman always looks better going to dinner in a tux  and bow tie, beats a ordinary tie any time.🍷🥃

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Are you sailing with a traveling companion?  She/he should have a try (including practice runs).  I always do my husband's bowtie; much easier than him doing it himself.  Sometimes I have to re-do several times, but so worth it.

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Thanks for all replies. Had another go this morning and still not even got to final stage. The bit I’m struggling is with getting the back bow through the hole whilst holding everything else in place. Will persevere and ask my son later for help as he went through it all for his school prom and our last Cunard cruise. He insisted on a self tie so he could look cool at the end of the evening with it undone.

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Eureka!!! Finally worked out what I was doing wrong. Was putting the unfolded end through first. Once I realised that, I started getting something resembling a bow. Once I understood the construction of the bow I could do it. Had a few goes and can consistently get a passable bow which passed the wife’s scrutiny.

 

Got a few days to practice before we fly to Hamburg on Thursday before boarding on Friday.

 

Thanks for the advice and encouragement.

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