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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!

Great use for hankies, Peter Pan Collar tanks! Tutorial

I'm proud to say I came up with this one on my own (I think).
I collect cute vintage hankies and have way too many, even with selling some in my Etsy store.  As a fun way to dress up summery tanks and tees, I've decided to make Peter Pan collars (that means the classic cutesy rounded-edge, vintage-ey shape) out of decorated hankies and put them on plain tees and tanks!
To do this, you'll need a tank, a hankie, and some white cotton for the underside of the collar.  Here's what I'm starting with:
I'm going to show you how to do two styles of collar--one that wraps around to the back and one that's just a fake collar, only in front.  You may not have enough hankie fabric to do the full collar; I ran into this problem with one of my hankies, so it's only on the front!
So here's what I did.
  • Fold the tank in half and make a pattern that follows the curve of its neckline.
  • Using the arc, create the shape of the collar--just eyeball it!
  • Cut out around the collar adding a 1/2-5/8" seam allowance, whatever you prefer.  This is your pattern piece, which you'll use to cut out from the hankie and the white cotton.
  • If you have enough hankie to do a full collar, do the same thing but trace around to the back of the tank, too:
 It's okay if your lining and hankie fabrics don't match up perfectly, or if you don't have 100% enough fabric... the uneven places will get lost in the seam allowance.
  • Turn the pieces right sides together and sew *along the curved edge only*.
  • You're going to flip and press, but first clip along the curve in the seam allowance so you don't have bulk along the edge.
  • Flip and press.
  • Press under 1/2" through both layers and clip along that curve, too.
  • Find the center of your tank and pin the collar down, using your 1/2" fold as the guide to fit the edge of the tank directly into.  Sew (on the inside of the tank) along the curve.
  • If you're doing the partial collar, turn under 1/4"-1/2" at the top and finish the seam on the inside.  Then hand-sew the fold down.
 That's it!

54 comments

  1. Genius! Peter Pan Collars are so romantic, especially your version :)

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  2. Love it!!! A great way to make regular tanks a bit more interesting.

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  3. That really dresses up the tank top. Great idea!
    Kathy

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  4. That's so clever!!

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  5. I love it!! I think I'll have to alter some tank tops for my girls.

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  6. Very cute, especially that first one. Fun idea!

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  7. Love it! I love old hankies, but I never know what to do with them.

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  8. Love. Thanks for sharing!!

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  9. Oooh those are cute - I lurve the hankies, they're beautiful :D

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. I actually posted a nearly identical tutorial for this, 5 days ago. And UrbanOutfitters actually sells a peter pan collar tank: http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=18490128

    Great minds think alike?

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  12. Anonymous5/24/2010

    Love it, and as always, your instructions are easy to follow. Now I have a question/favor to ask. I have a lot of fancy straight trims that are not suitable for turning into ruffles - they have to be used as a straight piece in order to see the beauty of the trim. Do you have any suggestions how I can use these to refashion clothes?

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  13. That is so cute! I love it.

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  14. Holy bologna that's the cutest thing ever. I LOVE peter pan collars, and I LOVE vintage hankies. I have quite a collection, but I'm saving them up for a gigantic umm... tent? lol I don't know what it will be, but I'm tacking all the scalloped edges together to make a floaty... giant... thing! Curtain? Ceiling art? Room divider? All of the above, on rotation?

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  15. super cool idea. thanks for sharing with us!

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  16. So cute!

    I just found your blog and now I'm most certainly a big fan. I LOVE to sew and could use the constant reminder to pull out my machine. :)

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  17. That is absolutely adorable. Great idea! I love it.

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  18. This is truly ace! will be trying this post haste. Hey that all kinda rhymed. Keep it up!

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  19. Adorable! These are super cute! I think the collar paired with your tutorial that has buttons down the center would look really cute, finished and polished!

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  20. Hello, wonderful! I love peter pan collars. Love them. I would marry them if I could. This will be the perfect way for me to make my maternity tank tops not so blah this summer. Thanks for sharing!

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  21. This is great, I've been looking for a project to do with hankies - perfect! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  22. You are so creative. I'm a sewing beginner and am so glad I found your blog!

    Dinah

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  23. Beautifully sweet! I'm definitely going to dig up some hankies. I love sewing projects. Great tutorial.

    Thanks for sharing at My Backyard Eden.

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  24. Great embellishment!

    Thanks for linking up with Sugar & Spice.

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  25. Those are adorable, thanks for sharing!

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  26. What a great idea! I love the classic and modern look. Thanks for linking up!

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  27. Fabulous! I LOVE using vintage linens. Thanks for linking!

    Leisel
    Brown Paper Packages

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  28. oh, it's adorable! I wisgh

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  29. I found you through Totally tutorials and was immediately intrigued by this tute! What a great idea! I will certainly try this. Thanks for sharing!

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  30. Anonymous6/17/2010

    I love it! Might be just what I was looking for. Hope my fabrics can pull it off. Otherwise, its going on the list for another project!

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  31. That's adorable! I have tons of those cute hankies too and never know what to do with them. Thanks.

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  32. Thank you so much this i really useful- I can't wait to try it out!!
    www.styleisalwaysfashionable.blogspot.com

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  33. I am so glad I follow your blog and stumbled across this link in your newer post. I have just finished a dress but am not happy with the neck line and was thinking of a collar. I shall be using this tutorial tonight :)

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  34. This is so cute! I love that you used hankies for it.. Check out my peter pan collar shirt tutorial :)
    http://muchmorethanthebirds.blogspot.fr/2012/08/tutorial-petter-pan-collar-and-open.html

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  35. Thanks for this tutorial! I spent this afternoon trying it out and made these two little gems. I used an old sheet for the one one the left and a weird black dress just sitting around for the one on the right. I'm excited to find more fun fabric to add collars to other stuff I have wasting away in my closet!

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