Bad Crafts: Necktie skirts

Like many of the Bad Crafts I have featured here, this is a craft that I call "bad" with tongue very much in cheek. By every possible metric, necktie skirts are hideous. And yet they are fun to make, hilariously adorable to wear, and if I had the skills and the figure and any interest in wearing skirts (which I do not), trust me, I would make one of these immediately.

The idea behind a necktie skirt is pretty simple. You take a bunch of neckties (probably purchased from thrift stores) and sew them together. The shape of a necktie means that you automatically end up with a slightly flared skirt, with cute points at the ends.

The biggest problem with necktie skirts is that neckties are ugly. Sewing a bunch of neckties together doesn't make them less ugly. Particularly since, as I mentioned, you will probably be buying the neckties from the thrift store. And thrift store neckties are at least five times uglier than the neckties you find for sale in stores. These are the neckties people wanted to give away for free, remember.

You could bump up the necktie level by buying them new, of course. But thrift store neckties cost about a dollar, and new neckties are, I don't know, at least $20 each? That's going to quickly overrun most crafters' budgets.

Necktie skirts may be ugly, and heavy, and basically the female equivalent of wearing a fedora. (More than anything, an necktie skirt says "Ask me about my necktie skirt!") But you know what? They are fun, and I'm all in favor of recycling unwanted clothing, and it's not hurting anyone. If you want to wear a bunch of old abandoned neckties as an item of clothing while pretending to be Jamie Gertz in The Lost Boys, I for one will cheer you on.

Image courtesy Flickr/JoelInSouthernCA