WELCOME

Hello! I'm Suzannah, a serious DIYer and mom of two little ones. Follow along with my DIY fixer upper house renovations, sewing and crafty projects, real food recipes, and de-stressing goals.
I believe you can love your home just the way it is, AND have the power to design and make big changes to make it better.
I'm also the author of DIY Wardrobe Makeovers!

Sewing Circle: Mystery collar treatment

We may stump you on this Sewing Circle.  Jessica sent me an email asking about a beautiful collar treatment I've never seen before!  Here goes...

Q: I have a question that I am really hoping you can help me with. I absolutely love the dress the bride is wearing in these pictures:

Do you have any tips on how to go about re creating it? The collar is my favorite part and it has me completely puzzled! Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

My response to Jessica...

A: That is a beautiful dress! Although the pictures are all kind of small, so it’s hard to tell exactly… if it’s a vintage dress, those petals sort of remind me of some vintage pieces I’ve seen of lightweight fabrics with satin edge stitching to finish the edges, but they also kind of look like appliqués. This tutorial from not long ago might give you a similar look. Although, you wouldn’t need the interfacing, and you might want to do a decorative topstitch to add some detail to the edges.

As for the scallop shape of the neckline, you can do that using any basic dress pattern and just add the shape you want. Try it out on some scratch paper first, and make sure both sides are symmetrical, but cut both the fashion fabric and the lining (or facing, or whatever you’re using) with the scallop shape, and then very carefully trim the corners etc. when you press and turn (and understitch or topstitch). Does that make sense?

Readers, have you ever seen a tutorial for a collar or petals like are on that dress?  Any ideas to help Jessica recreate such a pretty look?  Love to hear!

15 comments

  1. Anonymous2/09/2012

    Hi That is a beautiful dress. I really like your blog and have been a constant reader for about 6 months. Was wondering if you saw the dress that Kate Middleton wore out last night? Any pattern ideas for that dress? Super Cute!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmm, which one? She wears a lot of dresses... was it this one? http://www.ontheredcarpet.com/photos/Kate-Middletons-first-solo-engagement-as-a-royal/8537243

      Send me an email if you have Sewing Circle questions! =)

      Delete
  2. That is definitely a piece appliqued onto the collar, probably made with an embroidery machine. You might be able to free-embroider your own with a satin stitch, spray adhesive and water soluble stabilizer. You cut out the pieces, attach them to the stabilizer in the shape you want with temporary spray adhesive, then satin stitch around the edges. Then you put it in water, the stabilizer and adhesive melt, and you're left with your finished piece to applique on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great tips, Melissa! I don't know much about embroidery machines or replicating what they do, so thanks for the ideas!!

      Delete
  3. Thanks for posting this Suzannah! Wow, Melissa above, I never would have thought about that!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Martha Pullen of Sew Beautiful fame often does heirloom tutorials and pieces and she might have a tutorial perfect for this. We used to get her PBS show and even though I don't do much heirloom-style sewing I always watched it for the techniques. This looks like something she would love!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This definitely looks like lace applique to me. It looks like the dress was made, the applique was applied to the front neckline, and the fabric may or may not have been cut away underneath. The good news it, it's a pretty easy technique if you just find the applique you like! Searching on etsy seems to be a good bet.
    I found this:
    http://www.etsy.com/listing/67175183/pretty-lace-applique-in-white?ref=sr_gallery_21&sref=&ga_search_query=lace+applique&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_min=0&ga_max=0&ga_search_submit=&ga_page=7&ga_search_type=supplies&ga_facet=supplies

    but there are tons more. Just search for "lace applique" under supplies.

    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's true, there might be something store-bought that would be comparable!

      Delete
  6. I was going to recommend Sew Beautiful and Martha Pullen as well.

    http://forums.marthapullen.com/ - online forums where the reader may find help
    http://sewbeautifulmag.blogspot.com/ - blog

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Suzannah, I am trying to reach you by email - but I think the link is broken or it's my computer. Not sure, Could you email me? I want to talk about sponsoring me blog. lilbitandnan@gmail.com. Thank you, Bethany

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is indeed a beautiful dress, if I was doing this I would probably appliqué using either lace I cut out or some embroidery work I had done.

    I hope she shares her project when she does this!

    ReplyDelete
  9. that is a fabulous and beautiful dress!!! love love love it... great post!!! hope to see the success of the project!! following you now.. hope you could visit my blog too.. kisses!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Some sewing machines have an embroidery scallop stitching that could work but the stitch is about half as large as the one in the pictures above. Still neat to know, though!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great idea! I've never played around with fancy embroidery stitching but that would totally work!

      Delete

Search

© Create / Enjoy • Theme by Maira G.