- As long as we have a neck line, we can make a collar.

Short, narrow, wide, large, removable, fur and more.

Today as we learn to make collars simply by tracing that neck edge, did you know designers use removable collars to add value to their garments and justify higher costs?

Collars give us versatility and change the look, so learn the basics and beyond today on Fit 2 Stitch.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Fit 2 Stitch is made possible by: Kai Scissors, Bennos Buttons, OC Sewing, Orange County, Vogue Fabrics, Pendleton, Imitation of Life, and Clutch Nails.

- In the 17th century, collars were just as prestigious then as compared to Rolex watches today.

Hard to believe, but wide collars, both for men and women and the wider the more prestigious and the type of lace they used, all of those things from the 17th century were really thought of to be collars.

Collars have a fascinating history to me because fast forward many years and Lord Hannah Montague invented a removable collar.

And his thinking was simply that we washed shirts more often than anything else, and the life cycle of that shirt was so short that he thought to himself, "If I make the collar removable "then we can just simply buy collars and replace collars, "and the shirt will have a longer life."

The idea so went crazy.

The manufacturers loved it.

He was from Troy, New York.

And that was in the early 1800s.

By the late 1800s, Troy, New York had 25 collar manufacturing plants and became known as the Collar City.

So these little white collars, they were mainly white in the beginning, got to where you could buy them for 35 cents.

Or you could buy four or five for just a few dollars, they packaged them.

And it became in the early 1900s when really the office jobs started and became more popular really, is that these white collars were worn with pastel shirts, with colorful shirts, but they were all removable and interchangeable.

If you look at this one, this one was known as the wing collar because of these little flaps on the front.

And how they joined onto the shirt was simply the front button of the tab, and then of course the back button also hooked into the shirt as well.

So these white collars, again as these office jobs increased, became known as a white collar job.

And that prestige back from the 17th century actually carried forward to where the white collar job was considered more prestigious than something else.

So we're gonna take a look today at several things.

First collars, how they work, how they operate, their names, how to sew them, and then how to make them removable because it's truly, still today, making them removable gives us much more longevity out of our garments and we can make them more versatile.

So let's take a look, we're gonna come over and look and just see the differences in the names of collars.

And when we talk about collar names, we always have to refer to the back.

But I do want you to know that there is an inside length and an outside length.

And we're gonna make reference to both of those so just we really are clear as clear can be.

If I turn these to the back, what I see is that this collar is laying flat against the back of the garment.

And this goes for men or women, there's no distinction between the two.

That is called a flat collar.

Some people say to me this is not rocket science.

So the flat collar, there's no raise, there's no anything, that's called a flat collar.

If I look at the back of this collar, this collar is what's known as a full roll collar.

And the reason it's given its name is because if you notice, it comes up and comes down and just covers itself.

This outside edge of the collar, if you notice, folds down just to meet or to connect to the inside edge of the collar.

Outside edge versus inside edge.

So that's called a full roll collar 'cause it comes up, it comes down and covers itself, especially as we compare it to this one.

And this one is called a partial roll.

The reason being is because the portion that it comes down is actually below the inside edge.

And we can only do that with a few things happening, and that's what we'll learn.

So I want you to understand the flat collar, the full roll, those are complete contrast with one another, and then we have the partial roll.

So let's go back to the table and make sure we understand each of those.

Before we can do a detachable collar, we got to make sure we understand how collars and neck lines even relate to one another.

So I've got my bodice front, and I've put this just on another piece of fabric.

So instead of everything being paper or tissue, it's all gonna be fabric today.

And I've taken away my seam allowance.

So I've just drawn a line that's three inch in seam allowance, because whenever I overlap a shoulder line to trace a collar, I don't want seam allowance.

So I've done the same to the back.

And what I'm gonna do is lap those two lines together all the way across.

When I'm doing a flat collar, this shoulder edge or the sleeve edge is actually going to be overlapped three eighths of an inch additional.

So this point is still here is the same, but this point, and if you notice what it did when I did that, is it opened up the neck edge just slightly.

So when I sew that opened up neck edge to the original neck edge, the collar gets snugged down onto the body.

And if you're ever curious about the difference, don't make this little alteration over here, don't close that up a little bit more, and you'll really be amazed at how the collar snugs the shoulder seam rather than kind of flipping up a little bit if it's exact.

So we don't want it to be exact, we want it to be a little smaller.

So I've overlapped this sleeve edge just slightly.

I've got my neck edge where I want it to be, and I'm going to trace the neck edge.

And I go from center front, which is right here, we'll just label that, center front, and I've got a pin marked right here, which is center back.

And we can take that away and that's what gives us the base of our, remember it's called a flat collar.

I'm gonna take that away, I'm gonna take that away.

And simply by creating this outside edge now, I can create what's known as the flat collar.

And a flat collar, the neck edge of the collar and the neck edge of the garment, they're one-to-one in size, they're a little different in shape, but they're very, very similar.

So you can see that here as I compare this flat collar, there you can see the difference.

So I'm gonna lay that there.

And then we wanna bring in what's called the full roll collar.

And I'm gonna start, and notice that if I put this at the front, this neck edge, this inside edge is completely straight.

It's actually not completely straight, that's not true.

It takes a little bump up at the shoulder.

But that's not even critical could do, because what you'll notice, if you just get these down, you'll be able to see and make all those changes.

So we have the straight edge for the flat collar.

We have the curved edge, straight edge for the full roll collar, we have the curved edge for the flat collar.

Now what we can do, what I think is always really fun is all the collars that are somewhere between the full roll and the flat are called partial roll.

That's a big difference.

That's a big variance.

But what we do and how we get that inside edge, because the actual inside edge is not ever gonna change.

What's gonna change is this outside edge.

And I'm just gonna do a little portion here.

And what you're gonna see is the outside edge becomes longer.

And as I clip and cut that and compare this inside edge 'cause you can see that's not changing, you can see that the outside edge is getting longer.

So the most important thing whenever I'm duplicating a collar, the inside edge really isn't that important because you'll get that from your garment, from the actual collar or neck line of the garment is where you'll get that from.

But the outside edge is what I always measure when I'm duplicating collars, because I know by the length of that outside edge is how the collar will actually drape and how it will actually lay down on the garment.

So measure from center front to center back.

And once I have that outside edge, that outside edge tells me the styling.

So the inside edge though is how we describe collars, and then sometimes that outside edge is just given as a reference to understand.

All right, easy enough, collars are so fun to make.

And I think my first lesson I remember in college was simply we had to make a collar off of something we liked and it didn't matter.

So don't put any limitations on yourself, just make the collar.

All right, we're gonna go sew a few collars.

And the reason being is because I've got to know how they go together.

And once I understand the shape, and once I understand how they go together, I'll be able to make them detachable all day long and this is gonna be fun.

So when I have a flat collar, I've got a couple of ways that I can actually attach it.

And I'm gonna give you a couple options here.

Because what we know about sewing is there are just many different options.

But these are gonna be a couple that I think you'll find to be very, very helpful.

All right, so the first thing I'm gonna do is both of my edges are finished, and when I line those edges up, they're both finished.

So I'm just gonna put raw edge to raw edge.

Now what I've done previously is I've, collars always have two layers, not always, but usually have two layers.

I've done right sides together, I've turned it to the right side.

Sometimes when you're turning a curve, you know that your seam allowance has to be less.

You have to grade it a little closer, so I've done that, and I've turned it, and then you press it.

And I always roll one edge under just slightly so that that's the side that goes down against the garment.

So I'm gonna do this with a seam binding.

Now, again, this is a flat collar.

And typically if I were doing this, you guys know, everything would match, everything would match, nothing matches right now, but everything would match.

So I'm using contrasting bias binding, I'm using contrasting thread.

Everything's gonna be a contrast just for illustration.

But I want to take that bias binding, and I'm gonna actually let it go beyond the front edge.

And I'm gonna take and open one layer of that bias binding, and I'm gonna catch it.

And that's where I would want to put my 3/8 center, or my quarter inch seam allowance, either way.

Your bias binding only has a quarter inch seam allowance.

So I've just staggered the edge just a little bit there so that I can actually get the edges that are supposed to be right correct.

But you could, if you wanted to, you could take the neck edge down to a quarter inch.

Just remember so that your edges would actually match.

The most important thing is that, remember that that neck edge, because it's curved, it is a bias, and it can have a possibility of stretching and you want to make sure that doesn't happen.

So I'm not gonna stitch that all the way.

I've got enough to where I can show you what we've got here.

We've got that stitched through.

And now what it does, remember that I put the wrong side of the collar against the right side of the shirt, it enables me to just flip this to the inside.

And before I do that, I'm even gonna fold this edge under.

So I'm gonna fold, I'm gonna fold.

And then I'm gonna come in with another layer of stitching and it's gonna hold that bias binding in place.

And you can stitch from either side, it doesn't matter which side you stitch from.

I think I always liked to stitch from the inside of the neck edge.

I'll show you here.

So remember this is all gonna match, it's gonna be really pretty, it's not gonna be this pink and black thread, don't do all that.

Just lay it down, bring it in and start to stitch.

And I'm going to stitch right on the edge of that bias tape.

There we go.

I stitched through these pins, I can't see where they are but we're gonna stitch right through the pins.

And this is why I like to stitch on the inside of the neck edge because you can really follow.

And you're gonna wanna stitch while what they call edge stitching, which is right along the edge of that tape.

Now let me just show you what that does once we take this.

And you can clip all your threads.

I would recommend in this particular case whenever you're internal on a garment, you wanna backstitch.

And this is not gonna have another stitch that's gonna come over it, so I would backstitch on this, backstitch in the beginning.

Okay, so now what you see is this lays down as the collar lays down.

Even if it's open, it's got that beautiful bias binding there that matches, and you've probably seen this on many ready to wear because they do it a lot.

And it's very pretty as it comes in along.

So that's one way when you're doing either a flat collar or a partial roll collar.

On the other edge, I wanna show you another way because you can do it without the bias binding if bias binding makes you nervous or if you don't like it, we're gonna show you another way.

And it's much simpler, what you're gonna do, and I've got this pin for the other side.

And I did that so I could unpin it and show you how to do it.

You're gonna take the right side of the collar and you're gonna put it on the wrong side of the blouse now.

Just line up your edges, and just stitch your three eighths inch seam allowance.

And again, I'm using that contrasting thread that you all love.

You guys always sew in black on beige.

And again I'm just gonna do that little bit so you can see.

All right, so I've got the right side of the collar on the inside of the blouse.

And what happens now is I bring it to the outside.

And what you can see is that all of that seam work, and you can serge it, you can do whatever you want on that, all of that seam work is on the inside of the collar.

And especially if I wear it open, then none of that seaming is shown.

And it's just beautiful, it's very simple and it's beautiful.

You can also use a facing, I'll show you that a little bit later, but this is a really easy way to do this.

When we're doing a full roll collar, it's gonna be a little different.

Remember I've still got two layers.

And what I've done here is I've just sewn these two layers together.

So right sides together.

And collars are always the same size.

And I folded, I'm gonna, in this case, overlap these edges.

And I've shown you guys this before and I know a lot of you do it and you love it.

But you're going to fold at the corner.

You're going to fold on this, and just use your stitching lines as your fold lines.

Fold, fold, and then just hold that point and then reach in with your finger.

And you're gonna take that point and you're gonna push it into the other side.

And you can see that it just comes out absolutely beautiful.

It just couldn't be any more perfect.

Don't cut away the layers because when you cut away the layers, you don't give yourself that folding opportunity.

So be sure that's kept nice and folded like that.

Okay, so what I've done here is I have folded my collar, I have pressed my collar, and again, I pressed one side just inside a little smaller than, so you can see there's a little ridge here.

And that's gonna tell me that's the under collar.

The two collars in this case are the same, the upper and under collar.

But I still press one to be smaller than the outside.

And then what I do is when I go to press this edge here because I've pressed the seam allowance under, I just go ahead and give it, that's when I even it up.

So if you look inside, the seam allowance on my under collar ends up being a little bigger than the seam allowance on my outside collar because I've pulled in this edge just slightly.

All right, so that makes a collar beautiful.

And once I've done all that, the collar I think is just, it's pretty easy from there.

So I'm gonna take my neck edge.

Remember that this is my, I'm going to put like a little envelope now.

I'm gonna slip my finished collar blouse into the collar, right into that opening.

And I want to get in there as close as I can to this very front section.

And if you ever notice in ready to wear, you'll see on every ready to wear that this is done that way, it's called edge stitching.

And I wouldn't even be, I know when I first teach women this they kind of think they can't do it right.

But then I always tell them, "Go shopping and go see how horrible the stores do it "and you'll feel much better about you doing it."

So you're gonna come along.

And what you're doing is you're opening up this neck edge, and you're putting this collar inside.

Now right here, this is what's called a guide stitch.

And factories will do this a lot of times because it's a quarter inch from the edge.

And if they sew a quarter inch from the edge, they know they have to just cover that guide stitch.

I think from all the years doing it, I've left out that stitch because I can just look inside the collar and I can line up the raw edges to the seam allowance that's turned under.

And keep in mind, it doesn't have to be exact because remember that neck lines are bias.

And in that bias concept, you remember that you've got a little bit to give.

So I'm gonna go all the way to the other side and I'm gonna do the same thing and pin the whole collar before you start sewing.

Because if you don't, you don't want it to be wrong beforehand.

Also keep in mind that you've got some factors working against you, like if you haven't, just human error, if you haven't sewn the shoulder seems just right.

But there you have it, you can kind of see that that's gonna be the right length.

And then what I start doing is just start doing a little edge stitch right there on the edge.

And again, this is where I'm gonna have to backstitch, I'm not gonna backstitch just for now, but I would backstitch.

And then you can see that what I'm gonna do is pick up right on the edge of the collar.

And you'll know that you're doing this correctly, because again, you're gonna do your homework and you're gonna look at other collars out there.

And you're gonna be able to take your thumb and just go right underneath that if there's a little roll to it, and then from both sides, it's going to look beautiful.

Your secret is the pressing.

Make sure you press it just beautiful because once it's pressed correctly, it will slip on, and you don't even have to worry about your stitching 'cause that pressing will hold it in beautifully.

Let's look at some detachable collars because I think that that is really now what we're ready for.

That's the most exciting part.

But again, one thing I wanna just show you, notice in this collar, this collar when I purchased this, it was called a Peter Pan.

This is not a Peter Pan, it's the Peter Pan look it's on the outside, but it's a full roll collar.

So just be aware that sometimes in calling, when you look online or when you're shopping, the name that it's given isn't always accurate.

This collar, if you look at it, that's a full roll collar.

One piece comes up, covers itself.

All right, so when we look at detachable collars, this is kind of fun to me.

And again, the reason for making them detachable is because they can actually, if you duplicate the neck edge, they can go from a sweater to a coat to a blouse, they can go to different things.

So that's kind of exciting to me.

So this particular one, I'm gonna kind of unbutton it a little bit.

And the only thing it holds on to is loops.

So you've got two decisions to make.

How are you gonna change the garment itself, and you want it to look good with the collar and look good without the collar.

So what am I gonna do to the garment, and then what am I gonna do to the collar?

Most of these collars, they're actually flat.

Because if you notice again, the outside edge, this is actually a partial roll collar.

So that's why I wanted you to understand all that other stuff just so that you can see the shape of these collars has to somewhat follow the shape of the neck line and then what you want to do with them.

So notice this, and I'm gonna move this away, if we take the collar away, this is just a sweater with a shawl.

And then what they've done is they've put the buttons along the inside edge.

So if you didn't have that collar on, you'd never see it.

Then they fastened this by little loops.

These little loops are right.

You always have to have one at the beginning right along the edges here.

And so they just fasten in, it's that easy to do.

This one is a little more complicated, I'm gonna save that one till the end.

But I want you to see these.

This is a sweater, again detachable collar.

I really got this because I don't like the way it's done and I wanted you to see it.

Let me undo a couple of these just so we can kind of see what's going on.

And I'm not sure why they did this.

But they never left the, the buttons are on the inside, on the outside, I'm sorry, they're on the outside of the sweater.

So they obviously don't intend for this to be ever worn without a collar, because I don't think I'd ever wear a sweater that just had a bunch of buttons around the neck and especially when the buttons don't even match the front of the sweater.

So for whatever reason, think about that, if you always wanna wear the detachable collar, not a big deal.

But if you do want to, I would think about that again.

One thing I wanna show you and then I'll get back to that last collar, I wanna go over to this mannequin and just show you something in this particular blouse that we have.

This is a partial roll collar and you notice there's a facing inside.

You can use a facing.

And in many times the reason you use a facing as you notice the label is when you look at the garment, there's a little bit of hanger appeal there.

And it looks so beautiful when you're doing that.

All right, so I've saved the best for last 'cause this is my very favorite.

This collar has really been well-designed.

And that's why I say before you do this, go shopping, and go shopping high end so that you really see some beautiful things.

Because what this has done is, remember I told you there was two layers when you're doing a collar, this actually has, let me get this undone, it actually has buttons in one side of the two layers but not the other side.

And what that does is it really hides all of that messy fussy buttons to where it makes it look so clean without the collar and so clean with the collar.

It's such a beautiful blend of doing it both ways.

So generally when you're attaching collars, you've got a button in the front, button at the back, and button at the front again.

You don't have any in the interim.

But yet hiding them is always done lots of different ways and you can be really creative about doing it.

The most iconic dress in modern history is Diane Von Furstenberg's wrap dress.

We love the dress.

We hate the gapping of this dress.

Next time we'll learn to degap the wrap, I hope you'll join us for the next Fit 2 Stitch.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Fit 2 Stitch is made possible by: Kai scissors, Bennos Buttons, OC Sewing, Orange County, Vogue Fabrics, Pendleton, Imitation of Life, and Clutch Nails.

To order a four DVD set of Fit 2 Stitch series 9, please visit our website at fit2stitch.com.