Tailoring a cut-on shawl collar

Thank you so much everyone for the amazing response to the coat! Sewing it this past year has been a huge project, but a very fun one. There are few projects that have taken so much time and so much head-scratching but that I've still loved the entire time (in fact I think this would have to be the only one...) =) I've learned so much, and I wanted to share the solution I worked out for the one thing I couldn't find the answer to in either the Tailoring book or Gertie's posts: tailoring a cut on shawl collar. The book, and Gertie, talks of sewn-on shawl collars, but cut-on presents a few problems with the order of sewing. So here's what I worked out! Heads up: long and very, very geeky post ahed =) All the pictures are in full size if you click on them, for clearer details.

Click on the post title to continue reading...



To begin with, here's my working order for the coat (sans lining and interlining):
Front:
-Bound buttonholes
-Darts (bustdarts on sidefront and collardarts on front)
-Sew sidefronts to fronts
-Horse hair canvas and tailoring the undercollar

Back:
-Sew center back, and sideback to back
-Make a backstay for the top back

Sew backpiece to frontpieces:
-Pockets
-Sideseams
-Shoulders

Finishing:
-Waiststay (a 1 cm grossgrain ribbon cross-stitched to the wool, as stated in the pattern instructions)
-Sleeves, sew and set in
-Shoulder pads
-Facing
-Hem sleeves and skirt
-Insert lining
-Buttons

Tada! =) This order differs in some places from the one given for coats with sew-on collars, since the entire front needs to be sewn before the undercollar can be tailored and steamed. So let me elaborate the Horse hair canvas and tailoring the undercollar part...

1. So the fronts are sewn together, and depending on the fabric thickness the seam allowances are either just pressed or they are pressed and catchstitched to the fabric. Make sure that the back of the collar is also sewn together, pressed and -if desired- catchstitched.

2. Cut and mark the horse hair canvas. I chosed to make mine just a little bit wider than the facing, but the top extends along the shoulder to the armhole. However, it does not extend down into the side-seam, but ends about 5 cm/2" from the sideseam.
I set two pad-stitch lines at 0.5 cm width closest to the roll line and in the collar stand. For the rest of the collar I set the distance between the padstitches to 1 cm (the stitches are as long as the distance between the lines).

3. Shoulder reinforcement. Basically you cut a piece of horse hair canvas that goes from just beside the collar and out to the shoulder. It's cut on the bias, and then quilted to the main horse hair canvas piece. This is one of those things I will do different: next time I'm so hand sewing this step! I thought about not adding this reinforcement, as neither Gertie nor the pattern mentioned it, but I'm glad I took the time. There's no stretch what so ever in the shoulder now!

4. Dart and center back (still only the horse hair canvas), done as Tasia explaines here. Basically seam allowances are trimmed, seams are fused and then zig-zacked.

5. Pin and then baste the horse hair canvas to the front as the book says, meaning baste roll line and armhole. Trim horse hair canvas shoulder to just inside the seamline, and catchstitch to fabric. Tailor baste the body of the horse hair canvas to the fabric. (Please ignore the tape at the roll line in the picture below, that comes next...)

During the process of basting the horse hair canvas to the front piece, cut holes in the horse hair canvas for the bound buttonholes and catchstitch the buttonhole strips to the horse hair canvas.

6. Catchstitch a stay tape (always pre-shrink the tape) to just below the roll-line.  The tape goes from the shoulder mark to the foldl line, not venturing out into the seamallowance. The tape is a little shorter than the corresponding stretch of fabric and canvas, keeping the collar flat against the chest when coat is worn. This step was so much fun, it was like magic! =)

7. Padstitch the collar, shaping the roll line as you go. Start from the inside and work your way out. When everything is padstitched, trim the seam allowances.

8. Steaming the collar. This I pondered for a long time, how to best do it? It looks so easy if you have a collar and two lapels, but here it's all one big piece... This is very much my own invention, I'm not saying it's the way to go. If anyone has other tips on how to steam a collar like this, please share! I'd love to hear them!

I did it in three rounds. First one "lapel", with one towel folded and inserted between the "lapel" and the coat, two other towels draped over the rest of the coat to pretect it from the steam:

Like so.

I steamed it and let it dry overnight (I removed the "protection" towels after steaming, so they didn't weigh down on the fabric and cause hard to remove creases), then did the same with the other "lapel":



Next and last was the collar:

I wrapped it around a tailor's ham and covered the rest of the coat with towels.

There you go! Tailoring all done, and all set for starting on the back! If you want to be time-efficiant, you can of course sew the back during the days when the collar is steamed and dried...

This may seem a bit intimidating, but from cutting the horses hair canvas to have the collar padstitched took me one weekend, so it really wasn't all that bad. In fact, I would say this was the absolute most fun part of sewing the coat, I'd happily make another just for getting to padstitch =) (I do have more jackets and coats planned)

The collar, all ready with the topcollar/facing sewn on. One thing I realised too late: it doesn't hurt to cut the topcollar or the topcollar part of the facing with very, very generous seam allowance. My fabric is so thick the collar actually ended up a little smaller on the coat than on the toile, even though I had 1,5 cm seam allowance to play with.

Hope you enjoyed this, and thank you for reading all the way here =) I'm hoping this will help someone else interested in tailoring a cut on shawl collar, or maybe just get someone interested in tailoring!

Love, Erika