Sewing Shawl Collars - How To Notch It To Sew A More Youthful Look

Sewing Technique - How To Sew Shawl Collars

Sewing Friends:

Let's face it! Shawl collars in general have a matronly look. They remind us of our old great grandmother's dresses. No one wants to deliberately look "matronly". . ."motherly" is OK, but not "matronly"!

So, what can we do to change the shawl collar to a more flattering youthful look? It really is very easy to do. We need to break the long plain line of the shawl collar with a notch. If you do that, you will see a world of difference in the appearance of the shawl collar.

You can do this technique on tops, dresses, jackets, coats . . . wherever you have a shawl collar. A simple pattern change will change the shawl collar into a notched collar that has much more pizazz.

How to add a notch when sewing a shawl collar.

• Cut everything as per the pattern instructions.
• Apply the interfacing to the facing.
• Draw and cut a paper or cardboard triangle pattern of the finished size of the notch that you want to add to your shawl collar. You can copy this from another garment if you like.
• Determine where on the shawl collar that you want the notch to be.
• Find that place on the interfaced shawl collar. Lay the notch pattern down and draw it on the interfacing. Do not cut out the notch area. Just mark it.

NOTE: You might also want to mark your shawl collar interfacing pattern piece now so that you have it for future reference.

Pin and stitch the shawl collar facings to the garment

• Pin edges of shawl collar and garment together so that they meet.
• With interfacing up at the machine, stitch the facing to the garment.
• Follow the drawn lines around the notch area.
• Shorten the stitch length to 18-20 stitches per inch about 1/2 inch before the outside corner of the notch.
• Take one or two stitches across the corner.
• Continue with shorter stitches to the inside point of the notch.
• Again, take one or two stitches across the inside point.
• Continue with short stitches to sew the last corner the same as the first.
• Return to regular stitching about 1/2 inch beyond the last point.

Trim and press the seams

• Trim and grade or stagger the seam allowances and points.
• Clip the inside point up to the stitching.
• Press seams open.
• Turn facing to the inside.
• You may wish to understitch the garment along the longer edges.
• Press with seams on the edge with the iron on the garment, not on the facing.
• If using a heavier or stiff fabric, you may need to flatten the edge with a pounding block.
• Topstitch if desired

Hope you enjoy your flattering notched shawl collars!

It just makes sense!

To Your Sewing Success,

Marian

Sewing Technique - How To Sew Shawl Collars

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