Having prepared the collar, it is time to attach it to the bodice. This isn't a half hour job.
Before putting the collar on, the fold of the front overlap for the buttons and buttonholes has to be folded over inside out. The overlap needs to be double the width of the buttons. The buttons are half an inch wide, so the overlap is an inch. To add a layer of thickness I have inserted a strip of calico. The raw cut edge of the dress fabric is machine tacked in place down the side of the calico - I shall replace the machine tacking with machine stitching in a matching colour later.
The end of the collar needs to be placed an inch from the corner between the folded layers.
The pin is holding the collar in position.
Now the collar is pinned all the way round, to the outside of the bodice.
The pins need to be replaced with hand stitched tacking...
...and then the collar machine stitched round the neckline.
The raw edges have to be enclosed, so I have cut a bias strip from the dress fabric. It is one inch wide, with one edge folded under by a quarter of an inch. This crease has been ironed down, keeping the strip straight.
However, this strip is going to be sewn around a curve, so I make sure it is curved to fit. To do this, I dampen the folded edge with a few drops of water, pull that edge only, stretching it, and then iron the stretched edge while damp.
I do this a couple of inches at a time, working along the strip, until the whole strip holds a curve.
The strip of binding is now pinned and hand tacked along the neck edge.
The pins go in to show where the first line of machining is, so when I do the second line of machining it should end up directly next to the first line which attaches the collar.
The seam now has four layers of fabric, so to reduce bulk I have done some graded trimming.
I have used the tip of the iron to iron the seam towards the inside of the bodice, so that the binding can be pinned down ready for hand stitched tacking.
The last line of machining will be fairly easy to do if the binding has been ironed again once it has been tacked down by hand.
Now the two ends, which have been folded inside out, can be folded the right way round and pressed, and the two ends of the collar are an inch apart where the two sides of the bodice overlap.
The collar looks a bit untidy for the moment. It needs a good pressing.
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