Tuesday, January 14





Hello everybody and welcome to week two of this exciting new year. For this weeks pattern creation I wanted to add a very sweet collar. Simple in theory maybe, however my idea turned out to be a lot trickier. I love a peter pan collar, I think just as much as most people and so with this in mind I knew it had to be a little bit different. Something I hadn't seen very often and hopefully a bit more exciting. So here we have the challenge - A peter pan collar with a twist. (she hopes)







The pattern I used is as above - Newlook 6824 and the pattern pieces I used were the same as last week B and G. 

The first step to creating my collar was to take the original pattern pieces and draft the desired shape from them. I did this by laying pattern paper over the top and trace. I use greaseproof paper, a little stiff but works just fine for me and very easy to get hold of. After tracing both full bodice pieces (except for the side panels - these did not need altering) I then drew the shape of collar I wanted onto the new traced pieces. Now I had my new collar pattern piece, minus the seem allowance. The type of collar I decided to make is set into the bodice itself. Drafting this meant that once I had the collar shape separated, the rest of the bodice was very simply what was left. After I had separated the collar and bodice I then added a seem allowance of 5/8". And I was done. 

When I said before that it turned out to be a lot trickier than I thought I was referring here to when I came to attach the pieces together. I didn't really think about how the shape would stitch up. It took a lot of perseverance but I got there with only a few nicks. Due to the pointy areas of the collar (very technical chat here) I found the best way was to start sewing at the very middle point down to the lower point and then stopped. Then turning the whole work, sinked the needle back in and started again from this point. With some ease around the curves I got the collar set in. As you can see it did take quite a bit of easing. It's not perfect but I am rather pleased that I was able to draft this style of collar. Definitely need another go, one day. After the new bodice was complete I assembled the lining and skirt as instructed and then put everything together. 




And here we have a dress with a set in collar. Quite sweet I think. This creation isn't totally perfect but I am definitely pleased with the collar shape itself. Hopefully it will make an appearance again through the year. 

Happy stitching everyone. x

1 comment:

  1. Love love love this alteration, and your fabrics are a beautiful contrast. Collars are such a bitch, so I think that's pretty damn impressive.

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