The D & G Collar

While I referenced the collar last night I did not really get into its construction. The edge treatment required that I do away with any seam allowances on the outside edges of the collar. The top collar was interfaced with fusible weft insertion while the bottom was left unfused. In retrospect I should have fused both. Its the only  way to control the ravelly nature of this fabric. You can see here that there is no facing on this jacket. I chose to line it edge to edge like the Chanel. But how was I going to hide those nasty collar seams?

The right side of the upper collar was placed against the right side of the lining. The right side of the under collar was placed against the right side of the outer jacket. In other words you have a sandwich with the lining and jacket between the two collars. The collars are not sewn together at all at this point. I then stitched across the neckline ONLY, from edge to edge. This seam was pressed open over a ham, then graded. Then the two collars were put wrong sides together and pinned along the neckline edge. The outer edges are still raw and unsewn. I then triple zigzagged along the neck edge to secure the seam like an understitching. You can see it in the pic of you look close. It nicely sinks into the boucle. The jacket was then put on the dress form and the collar arranged and steamed heavily. There was much turn of cloth so the under collar was trimmed to match up the upper collar while on the dress form. Once the steam was dry the edges were pinned together and the jacket then removed from the form.

This time the silk bias was done a bit differently. I ironed the strip in half along the length. It was then placed around the collar edges like a binding on both sides. With one pass of the machine the same distance away as the other strips the binding was attached to both sides and complete. Out came the toothbrush and done.

I really like the results of putting this together "sandwich" style. I think it is a nice clean finish. In its next iteration, and I know there is more boucle in my future, I would fuse both collars with interfacing and quilt them together as well. Hindsight is always so clear.

The rest of the binding has been attached all around the jacket. I've decided on covered buttons and will pick those up in town tomorrow. It will be time to buy the chain as well. Gotta have the chain!...Bunny