Banksia Sewalong: drafting different collars

A lot of people have asked me whether it’s possible to put a different collar on the Banksia top – of course!! And it’s so easy to change the existing collar pattern to something a little different. You can even leave the collar off completely if you want.

Should we get started?

There are really endless things you can do when adjusting a collar, but I’ve decided to show you two of my favourites.

POINTED FLAT COLLAR

I’m calling this a pointed flat collar, as I think that’s the name that will be most familiar to people – but to be honest, I think this is probably closer to a Chelsea collar.

Anyway, I really love this one – and if you’re one of those people who find peter pan collars a bit too “pretty pretty” – then this might be the one for you!

I think it’s easiest (and most accurate) to draft collars in the half, so the first thing I like to do is cut the collar in half.

Draw a straight line down the front of the collar as above. How steep you decide to make this line is up to you, but make sure you start from the very outside edge of the centre front as shown – that way you won’t need to alter neckline at all, and won’t mess with the seam allowance.

Now we need to blend the point into the curve of the collar – you could just draw a straight line but I think that looks too harsh and doesn’t sit as nicely. I prefer to draw a slight curve (it still looks pretty straight).

Cut it out and you’re done!

FAUX SHAWL COLLAR

I’m calling this one a faux shawl collar because it gives the appearance of a shawl collar without actually being one. That was worded strangely but I think you know what i mean hehehe. It should look quite similar to this one.

Once again we’re going to draft in the half. So cut the pattern in half down the centre.

Starting at the centre front again, i used a curve ruler to blend into the original collar.