We have a break in The Collar Project schedule today so I thought I would share some additional collar looks that I have been collecting from here and there. May these be additional inspiration for you!

I’ve mentioned before that the detachable collar is a great way to use small amounts of treasured fabrics, like Liberty.  To use even less, use a different fabric for the underside of the collar (which isn’t typically seen when worn).  Here is a ready to wear version from Claudine & Compagnie featuring Liberty Tana Lawn:

Or perhaps you have some small print vintage fabric on your stash that you would like use:

Crochet and knitting have long been applied to decorative collars. Here is a lovely one in classic cream and black crocheted by One Sheepish Girl using a free pattern created by Lulu Loves:

For a less traditional look, there is this one by Good Night, Day (found via Fringe Association). I think this would look nice over a coat too.

Until Monday, happy sewing!

~ Erin

Oh my, our next guest has been busy.  I am fairly certain Caila, of Caila Made, never sleeps, and LUCKY FOR US!  Her exuberance gushes forth from everything she does and her projects are always filled with energy.  (Maybe it’s sunny California?)  She’s developed a number of wonderful (and free!) children’s patterns on her site–mainly shorts and pants–and I am thrilled to say she’s sharing a new one with us today featuring the Peridot Collar! 

Let’s welcome Caila and her darling, pixie-like daughter–

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I am absolutely thrilled to be here today as part of Clever Charlotte’s Collar Project! I hope you don’t mind me starting off with a pun: What a clever idea for a series! Okay, I got that out of my system, hehe.

Well, from the very first moment Erin asked me to participate, I knew I was going to make Abby a capelet. I mean, there is only one thing cuter than a cape on a little girl and that is a cape with a peter pan collar on a little girl.

My love of capes this season can be directly linked to my love of the show Once Upon a Time. Have you seen it? It’s a bizarre and wonderful story linking real life with fairy tales. The best part? The show is filled with capes upon beautiful capes! The Mad Hatter’s daughter, the evil queen, the evil queen’s mother, Red Riding Hood–they all have the most wonderful capes. We needed one in our household!

So here is my version for Abby: a Peter Pan Collared Capelet made from a pair of textured herringbone pants. She is wearing it paired with her Christmas dress (made by me), a pair of black tights, and a red Christmas bauble. Baubles make everything better!

Below is a terrible picture of the original pants. I just think it’s so fun to see the starting point for repurposed projects, don’t you? I bought these crazy pants in a thrift store last Christmas because I wanted Abby to have a herringbone cape. It only took me one year to get there.

Making your own little cape with Clever Charlotte’s Peridot collar is so easy!  Would you like me to show you? I’ll even give you the 2T cape pattern for FREE.

Materials

- For the size 2T capelet you will need a 22″ by 29″ piece of fabric. Depending on the type of fabric you use, you may need less than a yard or up to 1 2/3 yards of fabric. (If the fabric is directional you may need more). Sorry I don’t have more exact numbers–I used a pair of pants!

- Ribbon or other for the tie.

I suggest using a heavier fabric for the outside of this cape. Choose something you would choose for a coat or jacket. For the lining choose a pretty cotton, or something silky. Just make sure it has some pop! All seam allowances are 1/2″ unless instructed otherwise.

Instructions

First, print out the FREE Cape pattern by clicking here. Make sure you print the pieces at 100%, no scaling! Tape the four pieces together by matching up the black border lines. Make sure all the cutting lines match up, then cut out your pattern using paper scissors.

CUTTING: When you lay your pattern out, don’t forget to match the FOLD line with the fold in your fabric. If you cut the cape on the bias, you’ll get some really nice drape. (I didn’t have this option since I was working with limited fabric, but I’ll try it next time).

1. Cut out your pieces for the Peridot Collar: one outer fabric on the fold and one lining on the fold. (Optional: cut your peter pan collar on a different angle than the cape. This will add some visual interest to your cape!).

2. Cut out your pieces for the Cape: one outer fabric on the fold and one lining on the fold.

TO MAKE THE COLLAR: I only changed one small step in constructing the Peridot collar for my cape. Follow the Clever Charlotte instructions, but do not sew the inside of the neckline.  You do not need to leave a gap for turning. Follow the steps below.

1. Cut out the pieces.

2. Place them right sides together and pin. Sandwich the ribbon inside the two pieces at the collar point. Make sure the ribbon is clear of your stitching line.

3. Stitch around the outside of the collar, including around the collar points.

4. Turn right side out and press. Tug on the ribbon gently to make bring the collar points out.  

Looking good so far!

TO MAKE THE CAPE:

5. Place your collar on top of the outer cape and pin the necklines together. They should match up.

6. Pin so that the points of the collar are pulled away from your stitching line. Your collar points should be pinned more than 1/2″ away from the raw edge. Sew a basting stitch around the neckline, 1/4″ from the raw edge. This will help keep the collar in place as you pin and sew.

7. Place the lining on top of your cape, right side down. The right sides of your cape pieces should be facing.

8. Stitch all the way around your cape, up the straight sides and around the neckline. All the edges of your cape should be sewn. Leave a 2″ gap for turning along the outside edge.

Turn your cape right side out and press all edges. Close the gap with hand stitching, or topstitch 1/8″ along the outer edges if desired. (I chose not to topstitch this cape because the material is bulky).

Now you have a beautiful, finished capelet. (Photobomb by blankie!)

Try it on your girl and admire her little self. Put her to work decorating the Christmas tree.

It may be an understatement to call our next Collar Project guest one of our biggest fans, & we are certainly a fan of hers. Nicole of Five & Counting sews all (or nearly so) the clothes for her 5 children, in between running a demanding Australian sheep farm & blogging into the wee hours of the morning. (She was actually delivering a litter of kittens as she was finishing up this post!)

I am just a little jealous of Nicole’s good-natured, spunky children, whose model-like looks frequently adorn the pages of our Flickr group, and I am more than a little jealous of Nicole’s detailed and precise tailoring. I often guide people to her blog if they want a complete, step by step tutorial of any of our patterns. 

In this post, Nicole brings us a stunning collar variation in the most unexpected sewing medium–feathers! I may have to try this out for me ;)

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Our first guest to be featured in The Collar Project is, no doubt, a familiar name/face to many of you. Jess of Running With Scissors is always devising new ways for her toddler daughter to wear our Clever Charlotte looks.  Here’s one of my favorites–a jumper from our Chickadee Skirt. Man, I wish we had thought of that one!  

Anyways, there’s no project to big or too small for Jess to tackle with her immense talent.  Let’s see what she’s done with our Peridot Collar!

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I am so excited to be visiting here today!

I’m a big fan of Clever Charlotte patterns and this was fun to rework the removable Peter Pan collar.

I chose to make a no-sew version from pleather (faux leather), which ended up being super easy.

I actually had a little sweater I had made and thought it would look cute with a pleather collar, but pleather isn’t machine washable and so having it permanently attached to a sweater for a toddler wasn’t a good idea.

So the fabulous idea for a removable collar solved my problem!

This variation of the Peridot collar has a different back closure.
My sweater had buttons in the back, so rather than ties, the collar has buttonholes for attachment.

The details on the collar are simple punches along the edge to match a little skirt I made a  few weeks ago.

So to make your own pleather collar!

You’ll need a square of pleather (or real leather).

I took the Clever Charlotte pattern and just brought in the finished edge about 1.5″ for Ellie being a smaller size and not needing seam allowances.
The fold is also the front rather than the back. 

Next I added the slits for buttonholes.  

You could sew real buttonholes on the pleather, but it won’t fray so I just cut it and moved on.  No sew and super quick!

Next to mimic the decorative punches on the skirt, I used a buttonhole punch to create a row of circles along the finished edge.

That’s it!

Then just button it on the back of the sweater! 

  The neckline fit just perfectly along the neck of the sweater.

  I thought the removable collar was such a cute detail to the sweater, and makes laundry easy for me!

Welcome to the first collar project of The Collar Project! Today’s design is my own simple embellishment of the basic Peridot Collar (in Size 2T) using some mini ball trim.

I purchased this trim at Joann’s. It comes in lots of fun colors and looks just smashing against a solid color–here, some  of our white herringbone shirting fabric.  I took pictures of Miss N wearing it with a plain gray cardigan–a perfect way to dress up a hand-me-down!  See how you can place the ties at the front or back?

To trim the collar with this pom pom fringe, I used the same technique as I would use to add piping to a seam–

First, iron the trim as straight as possible. Unlike piping, which is cording covered in fabric strips cut on the bias, this stuff tends to curl and twist up a bit.  Luckily it did not do this once sewn and pressed in place.

Next, I basted the trim to the right side of one of the collar piece, 1/2″ from the outside edges, with the balls laying toward the inside curve of the collar.  This is the hardest step, and I used lots of pins to hold it in place.

Once the trim was basted in place, I positioned the second collar piece on top so that pom poms were sandwiched in between the two layers.  I then sewed the two collar pieces together with the same 1/2″ seam allowance, through the trim’s tape and right alongside the pom poms (you are essentially sewing on top of your basting stitches).

I also  sandwiched the two ties in between the layers (brown Petersham grosgrain, which is more refined and lays more smoothly than the “fake” grosgrain sold at most mass retailers).  I left the hole through which to turn the collar to the right side on the inside curve, but in all other ways I followed the standard directions provided with our Peridot pattern.

The collar will drape better made up in some fabrics than others.  To help ensure a smooth, curved lie, I draped the sewn collar over a boiled wool bolster pillow taken from our living room couch and steamed it vigorously.  I then left it on the pillow to completely cool–at least 15 minutes.

You could easily import this technique to add other trims to the seam of your collar–the aforementioned piping or perhaps some lace as seen in this vintage collar I purchased some time ago:

Oh, how I wish I could say I sewed this beautiful piece.

Until tomorrow’s project, happy sewing!

~Erin

We are pleased to introduce a new Clever Charlotte blog series that will begin within the 4 corners of your computer screen next week!  The inspiration for this special project was our Peridot Blouse, which features our version of a detachable Peter Pan collar.

When designing this piece, we were overflowing with creative and unique ideas to embellish the collar.  It seemed like a fun (and quick!) challenge to see what we could come up with.  Even more exciting, we wanted  to see what others could come up with, so we invited a few people to play along.  We are truly excited to be able to showcase the talents of these lovely fellow bloggers who were eager to join in on the fun: 

An from Straight Grain 

Caila from Caila Made 

Jessica from Running With Scissors 

Laura from Charm Stitch 

Nicole from 5 and Counting

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So be sure to stop by these next two weeks to see all the fun!

Happy Sewing!

~ Carla & Erin