Ah. Frilled collars. Has anyone else been obsessed with them since this trend has emerged? (I recommend following @dominique.major on Instagram for the best collar inspo in her stories!). Big exaggerated collar with added frill details are everywhere at the mo and I just resist jumping on that bandwagon.
I thought the easiest way to do this without me needing to buy a pattern would be to draft a new collar for a blouse I already had!
I chose to use the DP Studio Le 601 blouse as the base for my project. I’ve made is once before (see it here!) and loved the general shape, exaggerated sleeve and general ruffley-ness!
My plan was to do away with the existing collar and stand and draft a flat Peter Pan collar. I would then add a frill to this and to the yoke – I planned for a simple gathered frill rather than the curly frill of the original pattern.
It’s a simple enough process to draft this kind of collar. I took the front and back yoke (upper bodice) pieces and overlaid then along the stitch line. I then traced over this with another piece of paper and from the neckline drew out the shape I wanted. I kept the depth of the collar at least 12cm and extended that towards the front so it dipped down.
The fabric is used for this make is an ex-designer polka dot silk that I got from The New Craft House during The Stitch Festival earlier this year. I managed to snag the last metre and a bit! I had originally intended to make another In The Folds X Peppermint Wrap Top but since realised that using slinky fabric to tie up anything is generally a bad idea.
I didn’t have as much fabric as I would have like but I was still determined to push ahead. To accomplish what I wanted I had to forgo the frill on the yoke (shame!) and shorten the sleeve. As well as shortening the sleeve itself, I removed the deep buttoned cuff and opted for a narrow plain cuff with elastic inserted
I decided to ignore the instructions this time and just went with my gut and a vague memory of my previous iteration to sew it up!
It worked a treat as I managed to get it together in an evening!
The collar was the most interesting to make. I used a long strip of fabric that was double the length of the outside edge of the collar and twice the width of the frill. I folded and sewed the short ends on themselves, turned the corners out and pressed the long strip in half. I then gathered the raw edge and sandwiched this between my collar and lining. To reduce bulk in this seam I overlocked the edge even though it wouldn’t be seen. I find overlocking is a great way of compressing areas like this!
I’m not a huge fan of it untucked and wouldn’t wear like this myself but I wanted to show what it looked liked! (Oh by the way I had ironed this shirt just minutes before I took these photos but the fabric just wrinkles so easily!!)
I really wish I’d been able to add that extra frill in the yoke seam as I think it would’ve completed the look! That being said I still like it and will hopefully wear it loads!
