[KellyNYC]

Argh! After 30 minutes of manipulating out puckers and precision sewing I realized I have sewn the right side of the under collar to the wrong side of the bodice, instead of right sides together. The instructions then state to hand sew the other side of the collar to the inside of the bodice neckline (wrong side of bodice) but I will have to hand sew to the outside (right side) of the neckline.

Will this pose any additional problems? Is the collar shape and integrity still intact or have I altered the positioning and drape? As is, it seems a little tough to bend the collar around and have it lay nicely. Perhaps because I’m using a thicker quilting cotton for the collar, attached to a thinner lawn for the rest of the dress.

I doubt this even made sense. It’s late and I’m frustrated and this is tricky to explain!

Thanks for reading if you’ve gotten this far!

Kelly

[Nicole]

It shouldn’t matter,if you take care when pressing then hand sew,

If you then top stitch from the top of the collar(if you wish)that should settle things down.

I did it once,I have not noticed any problem,but I do iron my girls dresses before they wear them.

[Justine J]

More ‘bad sewer’ confessions from me – I machine stitch my collars all the way round – no hand stitching for me!

I don’t think it will make any difference to your collar – you won’t see the stitching anyway as the collar will fold over the top 🙂

[Nicole]

You can see from this http://fiveandcounting-motherof5.blogspot.com/2011/04/music-class-blouse-meets-market-top.html that I don’t either Justine,but I must not corrupt others!

xn

[Liesl Gibson]

I know how frustrating that can be! It shouldn’t be a problem. You’re interfaced collar will be the top collar, but as long as the interfacing fused to the fabric smoothly it really won’t be an issue.

And lots of people machine-stitch the collar edge. I like to hand stitch because I can control the edge a little better, but I sometimes go back and machine stitch afterwards, too. It’s really a matter of preference. I often tell students that there are many, many ways to sew. Find the method that works best for you and don’t be afraid to use it. It’s not cheating; we all have preferences, and there is no correct way. I try to give as many hints as possible in the instructions so that someone who is new to sewing will get good results, but that doesn’t mean you can only do it my way!

I hope the collar turns out well, Kelly. You can also use the steam of your iron to help shape it.

[KellyNYC]

Thank you so much! I kept it as it and hand stitched first for better control per Liesl’s suggestion and then machine stitched it. It came out great. I’ll add it to the flickr group now. Nicole your post was super helpful, what a great resource.

[Violaisabelle]

Kelly,

I just took a quick look at your pictures. Lovely! Your daughter is beautiful and you have done a wonderful job on the dress. I adore your colour combination. I hope she gets lots of days to wear this dress, so, so pretty.

Carol

[KellyNYC]

Thank you so much, Carol! I was really pleased with how it came out. I notice it is a bit tight to get on, as I read about on another thread, so hopefully she’ll grasp the concept of “arms up!” so we can get at least the summer out of it!