DIY Vintage Collar

Hey beautiful readers of Lovely Serendipity :D,

Gia has been super nice and has to allowed me to contribute a guest post. I'm Kiera from the UK and I have my own fashion and lifestyle blog over at artisticfascination.blogspot.co.uk. In this post I'm going to show you how to customise any dress or top by creating a Peter Pan style collar. As much as I love the necklace collars I wanted to permanently jazz up a skater dress I bought cheaply last year. Rejuvenating clothes not only ensures you have unique items but increases it's trend life time. You should wear your creations with pride!    

1.) Measure the neckline of your chosen top or dress. Mine was 10 inches.  

2.) This measurement acts as the diameter for a semi circle from which you'll create your collar template. Using a ruler and compass create the semi circle. E.g. height 10in, across 5in. I had to use an A3 piece of paper as the A4 didn't allow enough room to later draw the collar. 

3.) Sketch your collar template! I used a necklace and Pinterest research for inspiration. It can be any shape, I simply felt a soft Peter Pan style worked best with my dress. Use a pencil; you may have to change it a few times until you're happy. 

4.) Add an inch around the edge to allow for stitching.

5.) Cut out and check you're happy. It should look like a pretty big collar. 

6.) Trace out four collar shapes on your chosen fabric. 

7.) My fabric of choice is a tapestry style with a slight shimmer. I got it for only £2.99 at my local YMCA charity shop. One meter should be fine. 

8.) Once cut out, sandwich two pieces together to make half the collar; pattern side facing out. Position these on your chosen top or dress to check you're happy. Cross over slightly in the middle. At this point you could sow them on (you would only need two), but I wanted mine to have more body and only be attached at the top. 

9.) Turning the 'sandwich' inside out, use a sowing machine to stitch the bottom and sides together. Turn inside out. It'll be slightly bulky and needs to be ironed flatter, this encourages the desired shape. I used my hair straighteners instead of a household iron so that I had more control over the shape. 

10.) Pin onto your top or dress and use a sowing machine to stitch on by running a line across the top of the collar along the dress or top neckline.

11.) You may have some excess fabric at the back, simply cut this off and secure the ends with a few stitches. 

12.) Cut off all the excess threads and you have finished!

It's much simpler than it looks, this was my first attempt and I'm pretty happy with it. I'm also planning on extending the dress length with a few inches of the tapestry fabric to fully tie the look together. If you try this tutorial out let us know how you get along :D.

Show Kiera some love! :)

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