Neck Tie quilt
 

I'm making a neck tie quilt. I have gone to many resources. Some say to wash ties first in hot water, some say in machine with warm water. Then some say to spray starch them to stiffness and others say use iron on interfacing. Anyone with experience? What have you done?
Has anyone tried Terrial Magic on ties?

When I made mine, I cut open the ties, hand washed, line dried, used fusible interfacing. It worked fine on most of the ties. Some of the older ties disintegrated with water. I took the long road but it worked. Some have had success in the washer but I never tried it.

I too did as above, but have yet to put together into something........none of mine disintegrated in water though....

I tossed them in the washer with a little detergent and warm water,and then into the drier ( on low). Then I deboned them,pressed them and backed with light weight stabilizer. A note,the necktie quilts don’t hold up to friction,and don’t do well with multiple washings,but they can be very pretty.

Thanks. So far I have hand washed and machine washed. Using starch (so far) is working out fine. Thanks Francie for the point about not taking friction well. I'll have to remind the recipient about that.

Most ties are made of silk and I don't think they will take starch at all.

Fortunately so far the silk ties are doing great with the starch. I still have to use a stabilizer though

After taking apart neckties of all fabric types such as silk, polyester, etc., I put them into a laundry bag being careful not to overcrowd the bag. The bag is then machine washed and machine dried. These ties iron very nicely. If there are stains, simply work around them.

I deboned them (if the thread holding the back together was silk, I removed and saved on spool to sew on buttons) I threw in wash gentle, warm water and some detergent. Put them in a pillowcase so there was less tangling. I used the ties mostly for foundation crazy quilt blocks (work in progress) and pincushions (lightweight interfacing on back since there is more stress. I did do a couple of crazy strip pieced table toppers starting with an odd shaped (5 sides). I did use lightweight stabilizer as a foundation and quilted the whole thing with decorative stitches and embroidery. Ties worked well. I have yet to try a Dresden Plate and thing I will use lightweight interfacing for the pieces.

You can wash silk ties? I didn't think you could. Glad to know, thanks!

I made a pillow years ago using ties. I, too, "deboned" them by taking out the woven interlining (does this make sense?) leaving the outside of the tie. I hand washed the silk ties, ironed on gentle, but machine washed the poly ties. I used a lightweight fusible interfacing to give the ties more "structure". I used a log cabin pattern - four blocks for the pillow top. Backing was Dupioni silk. Wish I had a photo of the pillow, but it was a gift and I didn't think to photograph it prior to giving.

I washed the ties...but they are still in a bag for someday when I catch up. DH is a pastor and want to make a little wall hanging for each of my six kids. Pastor's used to use ties in the old times, he still does.
Need to start I'm 76,

Silk should take the spray starch just fine. Most natural fabrics do well with spray starch. You should also be able to wash them. Most silks other than dupioni are washable, although I agree with Francie that they won't do well with heavy use or many washings.

Thanks for that info!

I like the idea of a crazy quilt tablerunner...that's where my collection of ties might just end up! And I can play with all those Deco stitches on the machine

thanks for all the help. So far I haven't lost any ties in the washing process. DH worked on unstitching the ties which sped the process. My house is all tied up with ties hanging to dry and keep their shape.