Parts of a Tie – Blade, Knot, Tipping and Slip Stitch

All 11 parts on the diagram

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Tied 3

Knot The knot rests between the collar points. The four-in-hand is the best-known way to tie it.
Dimple A vertical groove under the knot. Made by pressing the tie with a finger as the knot is tightened.
Wide end (blade) The wide one of a tie's two ends. The ends are called blades in Britain and aprons in America.

Untied, front and back 8

Neckband The tie's seams fall here, out of sight under the shirt collar. A tie is usually cut in three sections, and the seams join them.
Narrow end Slid through the loop on the back of the wide end. This is done when the tie is on.
Tipping An extra piece of fabric that lines the tips of the tie. When it is cut from the tie's own cloth it is called French tipping.
Bar tack A stitch joining the two edges of the shell near the tip. It is often added as a finishing touch.
Loop label Sewn on the back of the wide end. Either a loop label, or a separate loop as well as the label.
Slip stitch It lets the tie move and return to its shape. The little loop of thread at its end is meant to be there: do not cut it off.
Shell Cut on the bias, at about 45 degrees to the weave. That way the tie hangs straight after knotting.
Interlining A heavier fabric sewn inside the shell. One tie guide calls it the tie's skeleton.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two sources use it: Wikipedia, Necktie, text only, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necktie (knot, dimple, wide blade and wide end, thin end, lining and interlining, the bias cut in three segments); a shirtmaker's handbook read through archive.org's full-text search, The Shirt Book, https://archive.org/details/shirtbook0000kono (its labeled drawing of a tie: bar tack stitch, loop label, facing or tipping, shell, slip stitching, interlining); Avril Hart and others, The Tie: Trends and Traditions, read the same way, https://archive.org/details/tietrendstraditi0000gibb (blades or aprons, narrow end, neckband, shell, interlining, tipping, bar tack, loop label, dimple); and a how-to-tie-a-tie handbook read the same way, https://archive.org/details/howtotietie0000hall (wide end, narrow end, neckband, interlining, slip stitch, dimple). Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; no maker's shape or mark, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

These are the parts of a tie. The first drawing is a tie knotted under a collar; the second is the tie untied, with the back of the wide end enlarged.

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The front, then the back

A knotted tie shows three things: the knot, the dimple under it and the wide end. Untied, the tie runs from the wide end through the narrow neckband to the narrow end. Turn the wide end over to find the tipping that lines the tip, the bar tack, the loop label, and the slip stitch along the seam. The shell is the cloth outside; the interlining is inside it.

The wide end is also called the blade, or in America the apron.
If a loop of thread hangs from the seam on the back, leave it: it belongs to the slip stitch.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a tie called?

The wide end, the narrow end and the neckband between them. The tie is made of an outer shell, an interlining inside it and tipping at the tips, held by a slip stitch and a bar tack. A loop label holds the narrow end.

What is the loop on the back of a tie called?

A loop label. It is sewn on the back of the wide end, and the narrow end is slid through it so that it stays out of sight behind the wide end.

What is the dimple in a tie?

The small vertical groove just under the knot. It is made by pressing the tie gently with a finger while the knot is tightened.

What is the lining at the tip of a tie called?

Tipping, or facing: an extra piece of fabric that lines the tips. When it is cut from the same cloth as the tie it is called French tipping.