Sewing: Making Shirt Collars

Interfacing

The first item is to interface the upper collar. While the actual type of interfacing to use will depend on the fabric (silks, cottons, wools, and so on), in general you want the collar to have more body than the rest of the garment. For example, the Palmer/Pletsch product, PerfectFuse Sheer, has a crisp feel that is perfect for collars, cuffs, and front facings on blouses and shirts made out of lightweight fabrics: polyesters, silks, cottons, stretch wovens, and rayon.

If the fabric has a strong print, such that the undercollar might show through to the upper collar, you might also interface the undercollar - or put two layers of interfacing on the upper collar. The first photo below shows an example of show-through - but with extreme backlighting. The second photo shows that under normal circumstances, the underside is not visible with both sides interfaced.

In the olden days, before fusibles, seamstresses would always trim the interfacing close to the seam line after sewing the interfacing and collar pieces together. With fusibles, we tend to ignore that trimming business! Perhaps it's because we cut the interfacing pieces out of the same pattern piece as the part that will be interfaced - and since fusibles are so expensive, perhaps something in our subconscious resists throwing any of it away.

But it is still good idea to make the interfacing piece smaller than the corresponding fashion fabric piece, if for no other reason than to reduce the risk of gunking up your iron or ironing board.

So here's a nifty method for minimizing interfacing waste AND cutting the interfacing the correct size. (Note - this tip came from the folks at Palmer/Pletsch, where I got my certification as a Sewing Instructor.)

First, lay the collar pattern piece on the interfacing, but only cut on the outside edge of the collar:

Then, move the pattern tissue up, so that the cut edge of the interfacing is 5/8" or 1.5 cm from the cut edge of the pattern tissue.

Now, cut the other 3 sides of the collar interfacing.

The interfacing is magically the right size to fuse onto the fashion fabric - there is about 1/4" of clearance all around (more or less on the sides, depending on the angle of the collar point).

For the purposes of this article, I didn't fuse the interfacing to this purple piece - I decided that the purple would be an ideal undercollar, and a light blue print would be the upper collar. All the better to see certain details below! See both pieces ready to be sewn together. You can just barely see the interfacing fused to the lighter upper collar piece.

Collar Construction

This is a technique I learned many years ago from Nancy Zieman, of the Sewing with Nancy shows on TV.

Sew the interfaced upper collar to the under collar, right sides together, BUT ONLY SEW THE OUTSIDE SEAM (the long unnotched edge). Do not sew the little side seams, or the edge that will be attached to the garment.

Grade the seam, making the upper collar's seam allowance longer than the under collar's seam allowance.

Press the seam allowances toward the under collar. Or, equivalently (and perhaps easier), press the under collar toward the seam allowances.

Understitch the seam. (For more information about grading and understitching, see the Grading/Understitching article.)

Here is the wrong side:

Here is the right side, with a closeup view.

Because the little side seams were not sewn, it is really easy to do the pressing and understitching.

Now, with right sides facing, sew the little side seams.

In this view, you'll notice a little bit of purple extending past the end of the seam. More about that later.

The understitching means that the seam allowances will be folded on the under collar - this helps to get a nice crisp point when the collar is turned right side out. Nancy calls this a wrapped corner.

Trim the corners.

Turn the collar right side out and press it.

Because of the understitching, the under collar will not be visible from the top side, but there will be a teeny bit of upper collar visible on the underside where there was understitching. This is a good thing.

The under collar might extend past the upper collar on the unfinished notched edge. In the photo below, see the thin strip of purple visible on the unfinished edge. This can be trimmed, because in general the under collar should be a smidge smaller than the upper collar.

The collar is now done, and can be attached to the garment according to the instructions.

And the collar is crisp, with neat edges, sharp points, and a generally professional appearance. And it didn't take much extra time or effort to make it look so good.

Conclusion