I happened to spill ketchup on my blueish tie. It was very unfortunate as it is career hunting time.

I'm not a very trendy fashion friendly person, im an engineering student. however, a few days ago, i realized that the ribbon cable that had been sitting in a cabinet would be a perfect material for a new rather nerdy tie. With a few scissor cuts and some folds, you can have your self a very washable, hard to stain, ATA133 compatible tie. its also great for mcguyver situations, when you need wire, but you've only got plastic paperclips.

Because its ribbon cable, it can be forced to remain straight, and at a glance it looks fine pressed. also, mouser, digikey, and newegg even have it as a replacement part. even in 100' spools.

Step 1: Getting the Materials

Most ribbon cables are bland and gray. Attempt to find more exciting colored ones. look for late 70's to mid 80's era hardware, for some reason they all have pleasant looking cables. your looking for something approximately 2.5 inches wide, or 44 -pin 24 gauge wire. you might already have some from that computer you saved from the trash.

even if youve got a bland and grey one, it might say 'MASTER' on it somewhere. that would look pretty cool too.

Step 2: Cut the Cables

cut a 4.5 to 5 foot segment of the ribbon cable. This is a suitable length for a 5'10 economy-size male. If your going with the skinny tie thing ala franz ferdinand, you could probably get away with removing .75 inches from one side of the ribbon cable and calling it a day. The image below shows the tie folded in half.

Chances are if you already have a tie, just copy the dimensions.

Thats what i did.

Step 3: Tie the Tie

or have someone else do it for you, as shown in the following instructable

https://www.instructables.com/id/The-Fastest-Way-to-Tie-a-Tie---How-to-Tie-a-Tie-in/

Step 4: Finished Product

See some action shots of the ribbon tie. I wore it at CSAW 08 at NY poly's embedded systems challenge. Unfortunately no one really noticed at comp, however the folks at NYC resistor picked up on it right away.

the last shot is my Calvin Klein modeling skills.
yeah im gonna stick to electrical power engineering

*update*
Bre Pettis Was nice enough to upload some images of the instructable in action at NYC Resistor
http://flickr.com/photos/bre/2949354287/sizes/l/in/photostream/
http://flickr.com/photos/bre/2950208900/in/photostream/

Flickr Photos by Bre Pettis