When upcycling a button down shirt there are already existing features, collars, cuffs, button plackets and pockets.
There are many different ways to upcycle, recreate or refashion a shirt. We could shorten, lengthen, take off the collar, remove the sleeves and play with the pockets. There are many options.
What I will be showing in this tutorial is one way of recreating a shirt collar to refashion the look of the button down shirt.
A collar is an accessory. It can be a permanent fixture of the shirt or it can be detachable and that way can be worn with the original shirt or even worn as a jewelry accessory over another shirt or even over a t shirt.
A collar is made up of a number of pieces
Band – a strip of fabric that fastens around the neck, perpendicular to the body of the garment, to which a collar proper may be attached.
Collar stiffeners, bones or stays – strips of baleen, metal, horn, mother of pearl, or plastic, rounded at one end and pointed at the other, inserted into a man's shirt collar to stiffen it and prevent the points from curling up; usually inserted into the underside of the collar through small slits but sometimes permanently sewn in place.
Points – the corners of a collar; in a buttoned-down collar, the points are fitted with buttonholes that attach to small buttons on the body of the shirt to hold the collar neatly in place.
Spread – the distance between the points of a shirt collar.
Stand – the band on a coat or shirt collar that supports the collar itself.
There are a number of types of collars
Standing or stand-up, fitting up around the neck and not lying on the shoulders.
Turnover, standing around the neck and then folded or rolled over.
Flat or falling, lying flat on the shoulders.
There are many different styles of collars
Ascot, Bertha, Van Dyke, Windsor, Wing, Shawl, Sailor, Peter Pan, Clerical to name a few.
Detachable yoyo art collar
The first thing you have to do is to remove the collar including the band from the shirt.
Gently unpick the seams with a seam ripper.
Separate the top part of the collar from the band.
You are only going to decorate the top piece.
Open the top piece. There are 2 layers, one with a layer of vilene and one without.
You will be attaching the yoyos on the outside of the vilene (or pellon) stiffened layer.
Start by attaching the yoyos to the corner of the collar and working around.
I used a complementary thread color to attach the yoyos.
You can attach on the collar points or all the way around as I did.
Reattach the top part of the collar to the band.
Top stitch on the machine.
This is the underside of the collar.
The top side of your detachable collar.
An art piece that can be worn with a number of pieces of clothing. Over another collar, a t shirt, a sweater, or as is, as a piece of textile jewelry.
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