This little project is a quick (it took me about 1/2 hour) and easy accessory you can make, based on the fur collar pattern I shared last year. Instead of fur though, this time it’s fabric, which requires a couple of different techniques for construction (hence a whole new tutorial!). These collars would look darling over a cardigan, light jacket—or even a tshirt! Best of all, they’re totally detached, so no worries about having to sew hooks and eyes on things. Wear them just like a necklace! I also made a linen version (with the embroidered C), so it’ll work for those of you in the opposite seasons right now too.

Supplies

• 1/3 yard (or scraps!) fashion fabric (anything in the medium weight range)
• interfacing suitable to your fabric (I used a fusible on one and sew-in on the other)
• buttons, ribbons, lace, embroidery floss, etc.—to decorate or act as closures on your collar
• thread, scissors, sewing machine (you can hand sew this too), iron, etc.

Begin by printing off the collar pattern found here. (Instructions on assembling a print-at-home pattern here.) Cut out the size closest to your neck (or garment) measurement as indicated on the size chart.

Cut the following with the collar pattern: two fashion fabric, on interfacing. If your fabric and interfacing are a bit bulky, trim away the seam allowance on the interfacing.

On one of the fashion fabric collar pieces, fold in half. Carefully trim 1/8” from the inside neckline edge, starting at the center back and tapering to nothing about 1 1/2” from the front edge. Mark this as the under collar piece.

Attach the interfacing to the upper collar (the one not trimmed) wrong side, following the manufacturer’s directions for fusible. For sew-in interfacing, baste to the edges within the seam allowance.

Right sides of the upper and under collar together, pin along the outer edge of the collar, from front edge to front edge. If you’re attaching cords or ribbon to tie the collar on, baste those prior to pinning on the upper collar. Sew, using a 1/2 seam allowance, the outer edges of the collar together.

Right sides still facing, pin the inner neckline edges together, leaving a 2 1/2” gap at the center back for turning. The collar will ripple a bit since we trimmed away fabric from the under collar. Sew with a 1/2” seam allowance, making sure to leave the 2 1/2” opening free of stitching.

Notch the extreme curves on the collar edges, and clip all other curves. Trim seam allowances to 1/4”. Press collar.

Turn right side out and work the seams flat. Press. The under collar will naturally roll to the back of the upper collar (because of the 1/8” we trimmed—magic, isn’t it?). Give the whole collar a good press once the edges and curves are neat.

Turn the seam allowances left open to the inside. Pin and slip stitch the opening closed by hand.

Of course this collar is just screaming for other embellishment too. I stuck to pretty simple things (a vintage brooch), but here are a few ideas:

• Attach ruffled lace to the edges during construction. Alternatively, you could add a contrasting piping to the outer edge as well.
• Lay some pretty lace over the upper collar prior to sew the collar pieces together, and baste around the edges. You’ll have a delicate lace over your fashion fabric.
• Embroider fanciful motifs or initials on the collar (I used a 40s transfer pattern, but there are plenty here).
• Sew just the inner collar edges right sides together, and us bias binding to finish the outer edges.
• Work even running stitches around the outer edge with embroidery floss for a chunk top stitching look.
• Add beads or sequins for some sparkle!

As usual, I’d be more than delighted if you give this tutorial a whirl and want to show off your version! Feel free to either send me an email or post a link to your version on the Elegant Musings Facebook.

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It is perhaps wishful thinking right now, but just about all my sweaters have been pulled out and are systematically being gone over. Whether they need cleaning, mending a small hole or replacing a lost button, I’m doing all the work now so that I don’t have to scramble (or worse still, wear a holey sweater!) once it does get cold enough. (Let’s just say I’m hoping that by doing all this it might make the weather cooler! hehe.)

Vintage sweaters require special care. I rarely send mine to the dry cleaners unless they are beaded or embroidered (or have some embellishment that does require care that I can’t manage at home). Solanah’s tutorial she sweetly wrote for a guest post last year is still one of the best at-home methods out there that I’ve tried.. I’ve used this for the past year since she posted it, both on nubby wool sweaters from the late 40s and luxurious cashmere pieces from the early 60s. Although eventually I need to stop at the local yarn store and see if they carry Eucalan or Soak woolwash, which I’d like to start using to wash sweaters. The real key to hand washing sweaters is handling them with the utmost care when they’re wet. Wool felts extremely easily, but if you are gentle the results are well worth the bit of effort. I’ve even washed a vintage angora-blend sweater by hand with no ill effects!

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For beaded pieces, Jody at Couture Allure wrote a great post on cleaning garments with beading and/or sequins that has proved very helpful. Especially since with vintage garments you need to make sure that everything is secure (and can handle the cleaning) prior to dropping it off at the cleaners. I honestly only have a couple beaded sweaters (contemporary pieces too; I have yet to acquire a vintage beaded sweater), mostly for the reason that I just hate having to send things to the dry cleaners! (Which is probably why over half my wardrobe can be hand washed in the sink at the very least…)

Finally, one issue with buying vintage (or thrifted) sweaters is often that there are insidious odors that cling to the wool fibers. I recently had to try and get out the smell of cigarette smoke from a thrifted sweater (the angora one). The odor didn’t show up until I immersed the piece in water, but was stubborn in coming out after it dried. No sure what to do (not being able to wash or dry this sweater—angora is particularly tricky!), I turned to readers on Facebook to ask for suggestions. (Not every solution is suitable for working with wool, so keep that in mind.) A simple airing for a couple days worked wonders, but had the weather been less than ideal, I think I would have opted for the baking soda in a closed container method! (I am convinced baking soda is magic…)

What are some of your favorite ways for cleaning and repairing vintage knit pieces?

Wow—can you believe we are this close to being finished with our circle skirts? I hope you all have enjoyed making these; I always forget how quickly the style comes together until I get to the end and think “Am I done already?”. Today I have three hemming options for you; you can pick which one will suit your fabric best. These, of course, are not all the hemming techniques possible for a circle skirt, but the ones I tend to favor. So feel free to deviate if you have another method you prefer!

First, before you even touch the hem, you’ll want to let the skirt hang for about 24 hours. Because of the bias element in the skirt, this can sometimes stretch a bit, and you want it to stretch now, rather than after you’ve hemmed the skirt. Try the skirt on post-stretching, and mark the hem an even distance all around from the floor. My favorite way is to use the handy hem marker I picked up a few years ago at a rummage sale (they’re still available though). But you can also have someone else mark the hem evenly around the bottom using a ruler/yardstick. Use pins spaced every few inches to mark where your hem will be. (Or try this solo-marking technique.)  Just keep in mind you’ll need at least 5/8” below that pin for the actual finishing of the hem.

Take the skirt off and measure down from each pin 5/8” (or more, if you’d like a deeper hem. But stay about 1” or less.), and mark the cutting line. Trim the hem following those cutting-line marks. I usually find it helpful to baste the hem fold-line in at this stage, which can be done on machine.

Non-Woven Hem

Turned-Up Hem

This is just your basic hem, turned back an stitched by hand (or machine—though I only recommend that for casual styles and non slippery/thick fabrics). The real trick is how the raw edge is finished.

For firmly-woven fabrics and casual styles, you can get away with pinking the edge, or serging/zig-zagging over the raw edge. (Use thread that matches your fabric as closely as possible, so if the hem flips up it won’t be as noticeable.) Keep in mind that if you’re working with a wider hem, you may have to ease the top edge a little to conform to the curve of the skirt, and prevent those folds/tucks that can warp the finished hem edge.

Another method of hem finishing would be to use a narrow seam binding or hem lace to cover that raw edge. You’ll need to make sure your hem is fairly narrow (1/2” to 5/8” at most), to avoid the puckering/excess ease I mentioned above. You can finish the raw edge if you’re working with a fabric that likes to ravel a lot, and them lap the tape over the hem (wrong side of the tape to the right side of the hem) by about 1/4”. Straight stitch over the area where the hem and tape connect, being sure to turn under the tape at the end, and overlapping the starting raw edge (for a neat finish).

Once you have determined how to finish the edge, turn the hem to the inside of the skirt along the basted hem-fold line. Pin. You can either evenly machine stitch around the hem (use a slightly wider stitch for this), or you can slip or catchstitch the hem to the inside of the skirt. Hand hemming may seem daunting on a circle skirt (be prepared to spend a few evenings doing it), but the result is far more subtle and soft—suited to fabrics whose surfaces show machine stitching too easily.

Machine Rolled Hem

This is my favorite hem for a circle skirt, and one that is recommended in a few of my sewing books. This will work well on most light to medium weight fabrics. You will need a hem of 5/8” wide for this.

Begin by staystitching 3/8” from the raw edge of the hem. Press the staystitching to steam out any ease in the hem curve. Press the hem to the wrong side of the skirt along this staystitching. Pin if necessary.

Stitch 1/8” away from the fold line along the hem. This can be tricky with slippery/thin fabrics, so go as slowly as you need! Trim the excess above this line of stitching, right alongside the stitching line, trimming as close as you can (without clipping the stitches of course!). If you have a pair of applique scissors, this makes the process go a lot quicker.

Fold the hem again (to the wrong side of the skirt) a scant 1/4”. Press and pin if needed. Stitch 1/8” from the hem fold around the entirety of the hem. Press again.

Horsehair Braid Hem

This is probably the hem I’m most excited about right now, since this sew-along gave me an excuse to finally try it! If you want a skirt that has some form and structure without wearing a net petticoat, this is the way to go. You’ll need horsehair braid, though (Sunni of A Fashionable Stitch kindly sent me some to try out for this!), which can be a bit tricky to find at your local fabric shop (unless you live in a big city with good fabric stores).

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I’m going to direct you to Gertie’s excellent tutorial and follow-up post. This is the basic technique for apply horsehair braid to a simple hem. For my skirt, I opted to forgo the machine topstitching along the top edge, and instead am using a hand-worked catchstitch to secure the top edge of the braid to the skirt. (Yes, it’s taking a bit but the result is hardly noticeable on the right side!) Let me just tell you: I am completely in love with how full the hem is!

That’s it for the construction of your circle skirt! Post-hemming give it a good press and step back to admire your handwork. I’m going to try to get my petticoat made and a tutorial written up over the weekend, and posted next week. If not, I’ll just have a round-up of tutorials online to direct those of you who want to make your own. Then it’ll be time for the circle skirt party! Stay tuned for details…

As I previously mentioned, there are three methods I’ll discuss for inserting the zipper in this skirt. The first is for suitable for both skirts with and without side seams; especially if you’d rather have the zipper in the center back. The second and third (lapped skirt and invisible) are suitable for skirts with side seams, as you’ll need a seam to insert them. Either way, we’ll be doing this prior to adding the waistband. Be sure to read through each, as they have different steps in regards to sew the side seams.

Slash Opening Zipper

This method does not utilize a seam for the zipper insertion, so it’s perfect if you want to add a zipper to a skirt that has no side seams, or the center back of a skirt that does have side seams. The best part of this method is that it uses a patch to finish the slash opening, so the zipper teeth are not exposed. If you are sewing a skirt with side seams, follow the first step. If not, skip to step 2.

I also recommend basting by hand with silk thread if you’re using a fabric that tends to mar easily when threads are pressed.

1. Right sides together, sew the right side seam. Press seam open and finish. Repeat on left side seam.

2. Mark the length of the slash opening at the center back from the waistline down (the length will be zipper teeth (for example 9”) plus 5/8”). Baste by hand or machine over the marked slash line.

3. Cut a piece of your fashion fabric 1 3/4” wide by the length of the slash line you marked on your skirt, plus 1”.

4. Place the stripe right sides together over the basted slash line, centering it over the basting. Baste in place around the perimeter to the skirt by hand or machine.

5. With the wrong side of the skirt facing up and using a small (2.0 on my machine) stitch length, stitch along the basted slash line. Start about 1/8” away from the slash line at the waist of the skirt and taper to nothing at the bottom of that line. Pivot and stitch the angled line to match the other side. Stitch again around the bottom point of the slash line to reinforce.

6. Carefully cut along the basted slash line from the waistline to the point (be very careful not to cut through the stitching you just did!), through both the skirt and patch layers.

7. Press the patch to to the wrong side of the skirt, making sure the bottom point is wrinkle free.

8. Baste the opening edges closed by hand or use a wide zig zag stitch to join the two edges temporarily. Make sure the top (waist) edges are level and the opening edges just meet but do not overlap.

9. Wrong side of the skirt facing up, place the closed zipper along the basted-close slash, centering the zipper teeth over the slash, about 3/4″ below the cut edge (waistline), so the top stop is clear of the waistline seam. Switch your machine’s presser foot to a zipper foot. Pin and baste by hand or machine.

10. Stitch (using a regular stitch length) around the zipper from the top (waist) seam, around the bottom (carefully—don’t hit the zipper stop! You may want to mark where it is with a pin before you begin), and up the other side. Stitch far enough away to give the zipper pull space, but about 1/4” within the slash line on either side.

11. Remove basting stitches around the perimeter of the patch, and the basting holding the zipper in place and slash opening closed. Gently steam or press (with a press cloth covering the fabric) the zipper opening.

Lapped Skirt Zipper

This method is probably one of my favorites for many of my vintage-style skirt projects! It’s the sort of zipper insertion I see a lot on actual vintage pieces, and really looks nice and tailored when done properly. Several of my sewing books go over this way of doing it, but I’ve added a couple of my own modifications! There are more complicated ways of doing this, but this is one of the easier ones. I also recommend basting by hand with silk thread if you’re using a fabric that tends to mar easily when threads are pressed.

1. Right sides together, sew the right side seam. On the left, mark the seam allowances with basting from the waist to about 12”down. Measure from the waist down the length of the zipper (let’s say 9”) plus your waist seam allowance (5/8”). Mark. Sew the left side seam, right sides together, from this mark to the hem. You’ll have an opening above that mark to the waist. Finish the seam.

2. With the right side of the skirt left side seam facing up, press under the left (back) seam 1/8” from the basting line, within the seam allowance. On the right seam (front), press along the seam line. The back seam will form a tiny pleat at the bottom, but the front will overlap.

3. Position zipper along the left (back) foldline, abutting the fold right against the teeth, about 3/4″ below the cut edge (waistline), so the top stop is clear of the waistline seam. Pin and baste by hand or machine using a zipper foot. Stitch in place from top (waist) to bottom.

4. Close the zipper. Lap the right (front) fold over the zipper teeth and stitching line for the left (back) edge of the zipper. The stitching line and zipper should be completely concealed under this front flap. Pin and hand or machine baste in place, allowing for the zipper pull at top along the right (front) edge. Mark the bottom stop of the zipper with a pin.

5. Using a regular stitch length, sew from top (waist) along the right (front) edge, far enough from the fold to clear the zipper pull, but still catching the seam allowance of the right edge that is folded under. About 1/8” to 1/4” below the zipper stop marked with a pin, stop stitching with your needle in the fabric. Pivot and stitch towards the side seam very carefully over the bottom of the zipper. Do not backtack! Cut the threads with about 6” to spare, pull the top thread to the backside of the skirt, and tie for a neat finish.

6. Remove all basting stitches. Gently press with a press cloth the lapped seam.

Invisible Zipper

Now, I’m going to be honest with you… Although I had planned on including directions for how I install an invisible zipper (which admittedly is not my favorite sort of zipper to use. But I think that has a lot to do with sewing vintage/vintage inspired pieces—I prefer how a regular zipper looks!), but somehow I didn’t have one in my zipper box when I went to work on these tutorials! I know… I’m such a bad seamstress and have fallen down on the job. So I’ll link you to one instead! My favorite tutorial by far is Colette Patterns well-photographed invisible zipper tutorial. There are many others out there, however—it seems everyone has their own tips and tricks to insert an invisible zipper. So don’t be afraid to dig around a bit!

As usual, let me know if you have any questions about this step! Up next: the waistband… We’re about halfway through already!

With summer here and being in a 50s mood fashion-wise of late, I have been wearing my hair in a pompadour ponytail style for weeks. It’s really easy, gets my hair off my neck (which has officially reached “mermaid hair” length… it’s at my mid-back now! Part of me wants to chop it off, and part of me is curious to see how long I can grown it! It’s just a pain for 40s ‘dos! Not impossible, but poses more challenges…), and is a look that goes well with lots of my vintage frocks. I posted this video tutorial earlier in the week on YouTube, and thought I’d share it here as well!

What are some of your favorite summertime hairstyles?