Let’s have fun with something that I bet you’ll find nearby. Does your husband, significant other, boyfriend, brother, or do you have a heap of old neckties stashed in the closet?

My hubby has a mountain of seriously stylin’ ties. He looked hot when we “Vogue’d” with Madonna and U couldn’t touch him when it was Hammertime. Alas the 90′s are no more yet the neckties remain. Most of the older ties don’t see the light of day so I asked, and he was willing to part with a batch. Not the Dilbert tie of course; we were in complete agreement there.

It’s been all over the Blogosphere; wild patchwork is in. So I wove a patchwork out of the ties. Then I fashioned a (what else?) neck roll pillow out of my funky necktie fabric. It is indeed wild. I can see it funkifying a leather club chair in a library, or a reading chair in his home office.

Some details of my project, I:

• Wove the ties on a piece of foam core board, alternating thick and thin ends and using T-Pins to stretch and hold the fabric taut;
• “Basted” the weaving with diagonal strips of painter’s tape;
• After removing the T-Pins, quilted the weaving in a diagonal pattern in between the tape;
• Carefully removed the tape, and used the completed necktie patchwork plus a little blue fabric to sew the pillow cover.

Here’s another view:

There’s your inspiration. This week’s Challenge is to design and create something to decorate your home using old neckties. Don’t get me in trouble; be sure to garner permission from the owner of said neckties first.

For those of you new to our Challenges, note that my project is meant as a jumping off point. Please make anything you like for your home—I think ties would look great glued around a picture frame for example—the only rule is to use neckties in your project. Hey, this could make a sa-weet Father’s Day present. So get your wheels turning, run to the closet and see what you come up with. Most important rule: Have fun!

One more note, you don’t really have to “tie one on” to do this Challenge, but if you feel the need to have a margarita while cutting up your husband’s old neckties, who am I to judge?