Turning shirt collars

Primrose

My OH has a couple of favourite shirts with collars which are starting to fray which I want to try and rescue. I remember my mum turning shirt collars during the war when clothes were on ration to make shirts last longer so I'm going to try and do the same but wonder if any of you can give me any hints.

I've removed the collars and it seems a simple process to re-insert them the other way round and sew them on with a sewing machine but it seems that the frayed side might not hold the stitching very well, or for very long before it all starts to pull away again.

Can anybody suggest how I can strengthen the frayed part?

zippychick

Hi Primrose

i've never done it myself but there is an older thread discussing turning shirt collars so you may find some input in there

Ill merge this later

Zip

JulieM

I would check the condition of the rest of the shirt before you spend time turning the collar, if the fraying on the collar is as bad as you suggest, then there might not be much life left in the shirt.

If you still think it's worth turning the collar, you could try to separate the layers of collar material at the edge where it joins the rest of the shirt and iron on some lightweight iron on interfacing to the inside of the frayed area. You will have to get the pointed end of the iron within the collar to do this. This will strengthen the frayed area but make sure the interfacing is really lightweight as you don't want the collar to end up too stiff or bulky. Hope I've explained this clearly.

Don't forget the button and buttonhole will need changing to the other side. (Or wear open necked!)

Good luck.

Primrose

JulieM wrote: »

I would check the condition of the rest of the shirt before you spend time turning the collar, if the fraying on the collar is as bad as you suggest, then there might not be much life left in the shirt.

If you still think it's worth turning the collar, you could try to separate the layers of collar material at the edge where it joins the rest of the shirt and iron on some lightweight iron on interfacing to the inside of the frayed area. You will have to get the pointed end of the iron within the collar to do this. This will strengthen the frayed area but make sure the interfacing is really lightweight as you don't want the collar to end up too stiff or bulky. Hope I've explained this clearly.

Don't forget the button and buttonhole will need changing to the other side. (Or wear open necked!)

Good luck.

The rest of the shirt still looks in excellent condition. It was an expensive shirt bought from a charity shop for about £3 so it's worth trying to rescue. The top collar bit is the part that is frayed, and I've detached this from the narrow neckband part which contains the button hole, so it should be fairly straighforward. I've just got to rummage in my sewing case to see if I can find some suitable material for interfacing. Have just remembered I've got some thick garden fleece tucked away which might possibly do the trick and substitute for the interfacing. It doesn't have an iron-on facility so I'll have to wake up at 2 a.m suffeing from "busy brain" syndrome to figure out how I can keep it in place!