books on how to make neckties?

Please see this thread: http://www.styleforum.net/t/265293/so-i-made-a-tie

Have you tried checking out your local sewing store? They may have patterns that you could buy or should at least give you an idea of where to look.

Going out on a limb here, but I think that based on what is floating around from the likes of interviews with David Hober, Michael Drake, and the odd tutorial/look what I made! thread on SF, you could cobble together a rudimentary understanding enough to start going through some iterative trials. They aren't especially secretive about how to cut trapezoids - that is a known quantity. Cutting the pattern would then be a question of using your eye and adjusting it to a scale and shape you like, refining it as desired. 

 

My instinct is that a generic tie pattern in a library book is going to be quite ugly looking.  If you wanted to use that to base the angles off of and then scale around it, I understand, but it's just a question of math to do it from scratch.  Look at existing ties to understand what proportions you're looking for.  Buy cheap material, use measuring instruments to get your math right, and then go through a few dozen iterative trials before it starts to resemble something you could walk out of the house wearing without getting pelted with rotten eggs. 

Maybe we're getting our signals crossed here; but my interpretation of mfais usage of the term patterns was of the tracing pattern to cut the material from, not so much the pattern of the material itself. In those situations, they usually include instructions as well which usually help a lot.

Hmm, I think I'll make a stop tomorrow and see if they have anything.

Edit: Just found this on the web: the guy sells his own 6 and 7 fold tie patterns (ben folds seven). They're kind of wide; but it may be worth a shot.
Edited by facet - 10/22/11 at 1:10am

David Coffin Page (author of Shirtmaking) has a booklet available on his website for $8. His book on shirtmaking is excellent so I expect it would be of similar quality.

 

No, we were talking about the same thing, a pattern as in something to trace.  By ugly looking I merely meant that the proportions will probably be dated, one-size-fits-all, and inelegant.  Like I said, it would be a starting point, but using a pattern from a book for something like a dress shirt makes sense because it contains many pieces with curves and arcs and the layman is not expected to know the art of patternmaking.  But a tie is just three pieces.

 

I'll plug our friend Sam Hober:

http://www.samhober.com/necktie/howtomakeanecktie.htm

 

Excuse me, I've just read the post with greater discretion and realized the OP wants to make 6/7 fold ties.  This is another matter altogether!  I thought you were going to assemble regular ties.