Special request from my little man

Though you'd never believe it from the picture I posted last Easter, Dashiell loves his tie shirt. He wears it to church at least once a month, if not every other week. You'd think everyone has seen it by now, but it always gets a chuckle out of somebody new. :) Anyway, a few weeks ago Dashiell found himself with a dry erase marker in his hand... and the shirt has been retired. Last Sunday when I reminded him of this fact he asked, "Mom, can you make me a NEW tie shirt? With a dark brown tie? On a white shirt?" I said ABSOLUTELY! I will make applique shirts for my little man as long as he will wear them!

This is one of my absolute favorite designs, the Neck Tie Applique from GG Designs. SO simple, but just the perfect proportions, and I love that the tackdown stitches for the knot are separate from the rest of the tie so you can rotate the stripe. (If you own an embroidery machine, you need this design. And while you are there, check out that pic of baby Dashiell! My how he's grown.)
Woo-hoo!! Check out the design placement along the ribbing of the neckline!

A perk of owning embroidery software is the ability to print design templates. I use them all the time when making tie onesies and tees. I find the template to be helpful for a couple reasons. First of all -- design placement. I lay the template on the shirt exactly where I want the design to end up:

With my water soluble marking pen I put dots at the end of the axes:

Then I connect the dots to find where the center of my design should fall.

Now I am able to hoop my shirt, confident the tie will end up exactly where I want it -- just under the ribbing of the neckline.
I also use the design template to help me prep my applique fabric. I love using stripes for this design, placed at an angle. I lay my template on top of the fabric and cut a rectangle around the bottom portion of the tie. The extra fabric leftover in one of the corners of my rectangle is the perfect size for the knot of the tie, turned at a 90 degree angle! I add heat-n-bond lite to the fabric and head to my machine.

"Can I wear my new tie shirt? I'd be so handsome!"
Why, yes you can. And yes you are.