A Dress for Meg - 6 - Preparing the Collar

The collar is made from two identical pieces cut from the pattern piece that I drafted.  The two pieces are sewn together with right sides facing each other, with the stitching about a quarter of an inch from the edge.  Then the seam allowance is trimmed down to about an eighth of an inch or a fraction over.

The easiest way to turn a curved seam the right way round is with the rounded end of a spoon handle.

Next comes a bit of fuss which is well worth the effort.  It is nice for the actual join of the seam to disappear out of sight to the underneath of the edge of the collar.  To do this I pin alongside the seam, pulling the join just into sight.

Then I iron down the seam, initially with the tip of the iron while the pins are still in place.  Here is the ironed seam showing the underneath of the collar...

... and here is the upper side of the collar.

Once the collar has been ironed the neck edges of the upper and under collar no longer lie one on top of the other.  There is no need to trim it, because the seam allowance will need to be graded once it is sewn.

To stabilise the seam at the edge of the collar I like to do edge stitching.  To keep the stitching even and close to the edge, I use the adjustable cording foot and the seam guide.

The stitching stays parallel to the edge, even when going round curves.

Now it is time for the narrow rick rack.  Again I am using the seam guide, and feeding the rick rack through the braiding foot.

Because the rick rack is woven on the bias it curves evenly.

Here is a close-up of the edge stitching and rick rack...

... and here is the completed collar, ready to be attached to the bodice.

Linking up with Connies blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday.