How to put a PeterPan collar on, well, almost anything!

The dress pattern in this tutorial is the wonderful Hattie from BrownieGoose. The collar is from the VFT Josephine. But you could use this one or this one. Or you can draft you own. I hope those links work. In some ways drafting your owns probably easiest. Just remember to leave the back opening where the dress buttons up.

Firstly cut your Hattie (or dress) and sew up the shoulder seams, if its a Hattie do the front pleat as well.

Cut out your collar (4 pieces – mirrored pairs). Your inner curve should match the neckline of the dress you are making and be the same length as well as same curve – allowing for seams. The VFT Collar fits the Hattie pretty perfectly, for a Lazy Susan I draft my own so the collar fits nicely against the boat shape neckline and right to the back opening.

I like to pop a little interfacing on one side of the collar fabric, its optional not necessary. I leave a gap without interfacing for the seam allowance as it makes it tidier and easier to turn (on this one I should have left a bigger allowance!)

Sew each collar piece right sides together leaving the ‘top’ or side that will be joining the neckline open. clip your seams. 

Turn and iron really really well. Now you have your collar.

Make sure you’ve done the back seaming and folding before you attach the collar. – I topstitched this down after taking the pic. I’ve not yet attached the sleeves (for the sake or speed – I was juggling work and a kid while making this tutorial)

Lay the collar onto the dress (right sides out) and line it up before pinning it on – ignore my reversed pleat – I was experimenting.

Sew it in place using a scant 1/8 seam allowance – see it looks pretty already! 

The back should line up with the folded over back seam – that’s where measuring your neckline length before making your collar came in at the beginning.

Right, now to tidy it up and leave no nasty seams showing. Clip off all the threads. Make/buy/steal/beg a little matching or contrasting bias tape – you only need the length of the neckline.

Open your bias tape right out and sew it onto the top of the collar – along the 1/4 fold line, with the right sides together (bare with me – this will (might) make sense in a minute). At the ends leave a 1/2 inch over hang.

Still with me? Now if you fold that bias over towards the inside of the dress you’ll find it will encase that nasty seam where we joined the collar to the neckline. I recommend playing about with this before sewing it so you get the idea in your head. It seems counter-intuitive until you’ve done it a couple of times. Once folded over your bias will be back to 1/4 inch wide and be encasing that raw seam. At the ends fold the 1/2 inch overhang back under its self to give a nice neat finished edge. 

So now we sew it down, right on the edge of that 1/4inch tape. Make sure you ease the dress as you sew so you don’t get any tucks or catches in it. From the outside this seam will be hidden by the collar. 

Ok, nearly there, this is so much easier to do than explain! see how that bias is sewn down and you can’t see any raw edges?

Grab your iron and press the collar so that the fold starts at the point the bias joins the collar – this will give a almost invisible seam and make it look tidy. In the pic below Ive orined a little to far into the bias so you can see where it will be. The bias should lie flat inside the neckline. 

Ok, thats it. Clear as mud? Have a go, its not that hard I promise.