Peekaboo!

I love vintage, and my husband loves neckties.  This Yule, I decided to combine the two into one amazing gift!: a custom-made vintage-style peekaboo tie.

Every Yule, my husband and I exchange one handmade gift.  It's been our tradition for as long as we have been married.  In previous years, I have given him such items as horehound cough drops (made from horehound grown in my own garden), and he has carved me necklace pendants out of bloodwood, and created handmade wooden boxes for my herbal hand salve.  This year, I decided to make him a necktie!  We both got such a kick out of the "peekaboo" pin-up neckties from the 1940s and 1950s.  Unfortunately, these ties are of course highly collectible and therefore very expensive.  Not to mention, who wants a tie that a zillion other lusty men already have?!  So, I made my own.  *grin*

I found an original 1940s pin-up print of a mischievous little redhead (just like yours truly) in an emerald green dress, playing chess, and with her garters showing.  It's awesome, and so totally the classy 1940s version of "risque."  I had this image custom-printed on a 4"x6" piece of white cotton fabric.  Then, I ordered a yard of the hysterical vintage-looking comic strip entitled "Dysfunctional Family" by Michael Miller.  If you have not seen this fabric before, you have to look it up!  It is just about the funniest thing I have ever seen!

I stitched the pin-up girl into the lining of the tie, so that she "peeks" out from the underside.  You can look down into the tie to see the rest of her.  I also found that my "Jillian Garrett Originals" millinery label makes for the perfect tie keep!

So there you have it!  Judging by the gigantic smile on his face, I'd say the necktie was a hit!