- Ties, ties, ties.

Today we will take them from the design studio to the recycling bin.

Today's guest is Libby Wagner, of Stonehenge Limited from New York City.

A young woman in a man's garment industry.

What is this?

Jerry Garcia on a tie, maybe you can explain this, exactly what is your role in this field, Libby?

[bright music] ♪ Could you imagine a more clever object ♪ ♪ Warms of body ignites the mind ♪ ♪ A child sleeps under mother's creation ♪ ♪ Together forever ♪ ♪ The art of the heart and design of the mind ♪ ♪ Puts you to bed one day at a time ♪ ♪ The art of the heart and design of the mind ♪ - [Narrator] Lap Quilting with Georgia Bonesteel is made possible in part by grants from Omnigrid, the original patented black and yellow ruler, by Leisure Arts, publisher and distributor of needlework and craft publications, including an assortment of quilt books and related products.

Additional funding by Fairfield processing, maker of polyfill brand products for the home sewing quilt and craft industries, and by Bernina, delivering sewing technology and education to sewers worldwide.

- A warm welcome today to Libby Wagner, who is Vice president of Stonehenge Limited.

All this beauty around us all to decorate a man's business suit.

How does it get to this point, Libby?

How do, how does the, how does the industry begin?

- Well, Stonehenge has been innovative and really dug out a niche in the neckwear industry by interpreting different forms of art onto running silk and then into men's neck ties.

We really have about three areas of focus at this point, one of which, my favorite, is the Jerry Garcia line of neck ties.

Jerry Garcia probably is best known as the lead guitarist and vocalist for the Grateful Dead.

He also is a artist, a fairly renowned one in his own right and when I was viewing his artwork in New York City, we came up with the idea of interpreting that on neck ties and today it is the number one selling program of ties in America, which we're proud of.

- I know you're proud.

Show us his, the earlier artwork here and how it began.

- Well, we do 'em in limited edition collections.

There are eight designs in each collection.

This is our most current one, the sixth collection.

This is his painting called "Drummers" and we will take most of the painting and create what is most appropriate for a neck tie, size wise.

Cut it, paste it, put it into an area that will accommodate what will look good with men's clothing, men's suiting, and then interpret different colorways from there.

Our first collection of Jerry Garcia, we only did one colorway to match his actual art until he became comfortable with our interpretations.

That's what you would see here.

This is from our very first collection.

This is the Banyan Tree painting and this is the first tie that came out.

- Well I can imagine all sorts of men would be excited to own this.

I understand you ran into someone in the your apartment.

- Well, I live in New York City and at one time lived in a very large apartment building and I was going down in the morning and a man stepped on the elevator and he had a Jerry tie on and not knowing who I was, I complimented him on it.

He says, "Well this is Jerry Garcia tie.

Yeah, I own seven of these."

Offered up all this information, you know, firsthand.

Didn't know who I was, so there are people who are collecting them.

They are limited edition ties.

We have just come out with a collector's edition of Jerry's where we brought, brought back the best of, I guess we could call it from his very first collection.

These are the four patterns that sold quite well.

- And then tell us about this other program.

This is most interesting.

- Well this is our molecular expressions line of ties.

It's based on what different substances look like underneath a high powered microscope.

A gentleman named Michael Davidson, who is a scientist down at Florida State University, devised this way of blowing up the molecules and recreating what he calls a photo micrograph, which you see here.

This is what beer looks like underneath the microscope.

We initially took what vitamins look like.

This for instance, is betacarotene.

You turn it over, there's a hang tag that shows what betacarotene looks like.

- Vitamin A sweet potatoes never looked like that to me.

- And then we went on to Moon Rocks.

July was the 25th anniversary of the first walk on the moon and we commemorated that with a moon rock collection of what it looked like underneath the microscope.

And our latest collection is called the Cocktail Collection.

We asked the scientists to put different cocktails underneath the microscope and we've got all kinds of vivid patterns.

This for instance, is wine and how we market this line of ties as we give proceeds back to the Mothers against Drunk Drivers, which has hit home across the country because it now is giving a whole new audience to this message of either designating a driver or please don't drink and drive.

The hang tag reminds them that this is the only way to Taiwan on before driving.

Actually governors across the nation had designated August 9th as a national Taiwan on for Mad Day.

- Very good.

- Because of this program.

- Very good program.

Very good.

- Thank you.

- And this is certainly very special.

- It is to me, it was quite an honor.

In April, I was able to meet the Dalai Lama from Tibet, both the spiritual and political leader from that country, and we have taken woven rugs, which is their form of art over there and put them onto a very heavy crepe, which is reminiscent of the woven rugs.

And then this also has a cause per se.

We give partial proceeds back to a organization called the Tibet Fund, which helps refugees who are in exile from that country.

- Well you do.

The company also does what we would call very traditional ties, also are paisley and simple geometrics.

Tell us about the construction maybe.

- Well, Stonehenge is known best for its fine quality and all of our traditional ties are handmade, which incorporates full margins, hand Barack and one thread from beginning to end that his hand slip stitch, this is what we call in the industry, the lifeline, which would give a man a natural drape when he goes to not the tie.

All of our silks are cut on the bias, which also lends to the natural drape and then pieced together by machine, which is our only part of making a tie that is done by a machine.

Otherwise it's all done by hand.

Finishing touches from the hand slip stitch all the way through.

- I see.

Starting with the cutting and the steps all the way down.

- Right.

All hand done.

- Well I know that in a few minutes, I'm gonna do something probably unheard of for you.

I'm going to cut apart a lot of these beautiful ties.

We would never cut into these.

As your collection builds, what would you suggest doing with them?

- Well, I think you've come up with one of the better ways to commemorate favorite ties by putting 'em onto quilts or something to wear.

I would love to cherish my favorite ties from the collections that way, but for those that want to hang them on the wall, we can suggest that they frame 'em, which we've done just like a favorite painting.

- That makes it nice.

I noticed that Jerry Garcia has actually signed to one.

Tell us about those other two ties you've got there.

- Well, a lot of, well, the sign tie Jerry Garcia has been kind enough to autograph with a gold felt pen and we give that out for charity.

Just last month, one of these ties won for $1,000 and this tie here was made for a very tall man, most particularly Phil Jackson, the coach of the Chicago Bulls during the NBA playoffs.

He is a deadhead.

And he wanted some Jerry ties, but they had to be custom made because he is so tall, so they're wider than the usual.

And as you can see, some of our notable public figures, Al Gore, and Bill Clinton, sport the ties.

- Well that makes it really special.

Well, I want you to not hold onto your hat, but hold onto your tie for a few minutes while I go to the studio and do some how to at the sewing machine.

- Thanks.

- We could do an entire quilt show with Irene Chapman's quilts.

She must be known as the tie lady from Oroville, California.

This particular quilt is called Chevron.

It's made in four panels.

They're cut about 20 inches wide and I think what really makes this quilt is the lavender and the wonderful gold accents.

I've created a panel just partial to give you an idea of exactly how the technique was done.

What Irene has done is to work with a template in this case so that she has made all the ties in a regular size.

They're all uniform.

She has kept the silk or the polyester lining at the tip and so that she has simply opened them up, taken the insides out, the inner lining, so there's a half an inch seam allowance on each side.

Notice that she started at the bottom and that this would be 1, 2, 3, and four.

They simply butt up next to each other, but each succeeding tie will cover the raw edge at this end.

Then she's going to use a zigzag or any of your novelty stitches on the machine to cover each tie so they will adhere to the foundation.

With the leftovers, once the panels are connected, she has covered those with a bias.

To complete the quilt, she is simply tie tact it and I think it makes a very puffy and nice quilt.

Now through the magic of TV, we're going to share with you two more of her quilts.

Her collection is so vast that she can separate the colors as she has done here in bringing in the sheaves.

This one is made a block at a time or the quilt as you go method.

The background fabric, batting and backing for each block are assembled and then using the small ends of the neck ties, they are attached.

Start each block with a center tie and work outward, alternating the sides as the ties are added.

More color grouping in this quilt called ties on parade, it takes advantage of the tie shape, alternating directions of the ties.

This quilt is made in the same technique as the Chevron, but this time there are horizontal bands rather than vertical bands.

Then I made my own tie quilt.

It's called Sunrise Sun Ties.

I was so inspired by an attractive black wrought iron fence that I had seen in Phoenix, Arizona.

I was teaching out there and I always remembered that that design reminded me of an elongated grandmother's fan and it came to mind when I started designing this quilt.

Now I don't have as many ties as Irene, but I do have quite a few.

What do you do with all these ties?

Well, the first thing is to put 'em in the washing machine, soap and water, put 'em in the dryer and the ones that do not make the dryer, throw away.

I used, in this case, multicolored ties for this particular quilt.

It's based on an 18 inch by 36 inch panel and of course we'd add our sea allowance, so I would cut out an 18 and a half by 36 inch fabric.

I even chose a fabric that looks like men's shirting.

If you look at the quilt, you can see that there are four horizontal panels, two at the top and two at the bottom.

Then I turned those panels and they became vertical panels in the center four of those.

After my ties are all clean, then I take them apart to fit on this particular foundation.

Before I would actually cut those and put 'em on here though I make this arc in this panel.

To do that, I use the yardstick beam compass and put it on a one inch, either a yardstick or just my my 12 inch ruler, taking the point and putting it down at this right angle.

Then I would come up 12 inches.

I have put some masking tape on the fabric just to keep it in place, but as you can see, then just with a pencil, I can form that nice arc that will allow the quarter inch that I'm also going to need to sew this particular piece in.

I'd go ahead and cut that out.

And of course, once again, use your ruler and if you're going to cut a curve, move the ruler with the curve at the same time and before you know it, you have cut that all away.

Once that's been cut, you will then piece these three units.

Your sun rays or your bright yellow accent goes in the middle of these two pieces.

Remember that when you're sewing this, I like to sew with that concave or the cut in part against the feed dogs and pin at the end so it will stitch in.

It's a very gentle curve and it'll be easy to stitch.

But before I would sew this, then I attach my ties.

Now I've got this tie, it's been cleaned and the first thing I'll do will be to cut off the label.

Once might mean a seam ripper, some of them will just pull off.

But once those labels have been freed, then of course you're gonna save the labels.

Who knows what you can do with those.

It might go on a jacket and of course the ends that we cut off, who knows where those might end up for some fun decoration.

The way you cut those apart, well you can sit and hand pick them, but I find it a lot easier to just take the tie, fold it, once it's been folded, and then with your rotary cutter and your ruler, you can just open it up and before you know it, there all of a sudden you're gonna see your lining and it's all gonna open up and I'd go all the way to length.

You're not gonna lose much here.

Do save that inner lining because that can be pressed and reused again too.

All right, once that's been cleaned and opened and all the inner lining taken out, I just leave that same fold that you have on the side.

They're put in place.

And then because this is a a rough looking quilt, I don't do fine applique here.

I use six strands of a black, in this case embroidery floss.

And I would attach that with either just a running stitch or in this case, one end you could simply use a buttonhole stitch so that you're coming through and then pulling all the way because any sort of hand work is gonna add a lot of flare to the foundation as this is is attached.

And then hand quilting will further anchor this.

Notice how I finish the panels.

They're separated with six inch more of the shirting material and then to accent the outside rather than throwing that end away.

We've recycled that by using a template and I've gone ahead and faced that so that when they're attached in that border, they do remain free and I simply tacked it at each end.

They're not going anywhere, they're gonna hang down on the bed.

Now three more projects that use tie scraps will take us to the sewing machine.

I enjoy using for these projects, diffusible iron on adhesive.

I think you'll really like these reversible place mats.

They're so easy to care for.

There's transparent plastic on both sides and they can even be reversible if you want to.

Now this works perfectly with the tie scraps creating a a tessellated design.

It's 10 inches deep and 16 inches long.

All I've done is to take the paper side of that iron on fusible material and have drawn the outline of exactly the way I want the ties to fit into each other.

I've gone ahead and numbered them and I've cut this one out.

Go ahead and press that on the backside of your tie remnant, it's oh about one to three seconds that you're simply gonna hold that on there.

Once that has been secured as I've done here, I'd probably start at this end.

Then I'm ready to cut out.

When you press, do make sure that that paper doesn't come onto your ironing board.

That can be a problem sometimes.

So when that is secured, then come and cut out.

And once you've got each of these ends trimmed off, then you're ready to peel back, going to come here and you've got the edge of that paper as a firm line to follow.

And once that has been trimmed even, you're ready to peel this back and that creates that nice edge that will allow you to butt each of these.

Once that that has adhesive element on the back and I would butt each of these right next to each other on that foundation piece that you have placed, then all you need to do is secure the plastic on either side and using a walking foot or a Teflon coated foot, secure the layers together.

Maybe you've noticed my vest more ties in various sizes and with a lot of different stitching.

Now the sequence was very simple.

I simply drew on the back of the paper as many different shapes as I wanted.

Some small, some large.

Cut around the motif, not up to the tie itself, but pressed it where I wanted it.

Checking out, of course the fabric, cut it out, peel the paper off, and then pressed it in place.

Now I have got, if you look carefully about three different ways that I have machine stitched over the raw edges.

The first way is with the novelty stitches on your up to date modern sewing machine.

There are so many that you wanna try out and with a metallic thread it really shows up very nicely.

A simple zigzag stitch in various widths will be another option.

And what I'm doing right now is the freewheeling.

It's what I like the best and I think it really joins in bonds the raw edges to the foundation.

My feed dogs are dropped.

I've got the layers in a hoop with a larger hoop on the outside and then just relaxing those shoulders and putting the fingers on the edge.

I'm ready to go back and forth and I can go out as far as I want to.

Simply covering the raw edges and building up those zigzag stitches.

You can even put your machine on zigzag to get even more of an element going on.

On one of our future shows we will be weaving tie scraps.

This time one inch bands go in and out of ultra suede.

Whenever I think of crazy patch, I think of tie scraps because quite often today we use some of the tie scraps to add the embroidery stitches that enhance the old timey look.

So why not update it with a pillow sham.

This time I've used black wool and have formed a rectangle before I would connect that rectangle on the sides, I have gone ahead and put all sorts of odd geometric shapes the same way we have done the vest and the other projects.

This time just drew as many odd shapes as I wanted to and I might remind you that when you use this bonding paper, it will reverse the image.

So that is a no.

I drew the question mark realizing that I needed to draw it the back way.

Once that has been done, you just have a flap to close it.

I lined it with satin, which makes it so easy to slide in and out.

It's just like a letter already to store your pillow.

Would you believe two more very unique ways to work with tie scraps.

Libby, you might want to see some really different ways of working with men's ties.

The leftover ones, you start with your standard thrift store chairs, the one the chair seats are all worn out and once they've been cleaned up, you simply take the ties and wrap them around.

These are your warp ties.

The warp yarns and I alternate the wide with the narrow.

It does take a strong hand to tie these with the leftovers that hang down the first time.

I simply turn those around so they're stuffed pretty much inside so they don't hang down.

Then I take these and these are the wolf yarns that are going in the opposite direction and weave them over and under, over and under.

And then once again, pull these and tie 'em really tight.

It really doesn't come together until the end when you get the last one done, can you see the nice surface you get there?

- Oh, great.

- Yes, and now these hang down for your pussycat to play with naturally.

- I love that.

- Looks a little bit weird, but I'm sure it will work.

Now we go to Easter time and a rather unique way of working with Easter eggs is to in involve your children in this sort of project where you would take silk and simply wrap it around the egg.

- Now you take the right side of the silk and - that's the egg, - Right.

You want the right side of the silk to go towards the egg and wrap it around with just some string and very tightly.

You have to kind of take the end here and turn it so that it's completely covering the egg.

Then you would boil this in a non aluminum pan, boil all the eggs, a porcelain type pan, cover the eggs completely.

I'd say 20 minutes or even an hour, just boil 'em.

And because you're not going to eat these eggs.

- No, no.

- The silk dyes are gonna go on.

So then you pull 'em out and let's see, we've got one in here that's just about all done.

Pull that out, let it cool.

And you can see it's all wrapped with a string and once it's cooled, we've got two that have been partially opened all the threads.

Of course you can't use that anymore.

- Oh, I see.

- Isn't that pretty?

Look how that's come off there and it takes either your seam ripper or just your nippers to pull all the way off and beautiful.

There you go.

We thank you and we wish you lots of success in your business.

- Well, thank you Georgia.

And I was telling my friends in New York that I was going down to North Carolina to do a show with the Jerry Garcia of quilting, the guru of quilting.

And I've enjoyed my time.

- Well, thank you.

We're gonna end the show with what got me started in quilt making over 20 years ago.

I was working with, of all things tie scraps in New Orleans and and this is what, I don't make these anymore.

I'm into full size quilts, but I'm indebted to ties because that got me started in something- Maybe something you can do with the leftovers.

- Great idea.

Real nice.

- Well, we going to show something special.

If you've run out of all ideas, you can always just wrap up in ties.

That would be one way to do it.

- Thank you.

Thanks.

[bright music] ♪ Of body ignites the mind.

♪ ♪ The art of the heart and design of the mind ♪ ♪ Puts you to bed one day at a time ♪ ♪ The art of the heart and design of the mind ♪ - [Narrator] Lap quilting with Georgia Bonesteel is made possible in part by grants from Omnigrid, the original patented black and yellow ruler, by Leisure Arts, publisher and distributor of needle work and craft publications, including an assortment of quilt books and related products.

Additional funding by Fairfield Processing, maker of Polyfill brand products for the home sewing quilt and craft industries.

And by Bernina, delivering sewing technology and education to sewers worldwide.