It’s all tied up!
Perk up an outfit with this pretty collar
Worked in a variety of stitches, such as straight stitch, French knots, fly stitch and stem stitch, this pretty design can be used to decorate a simple collar that is designed to fit over a plain round- neck top. The collar uses very little fabric, so you can afford to use something special, like the gorgeous linen shown here.
HOW TO MAKE THE COLLAR
Step one Trace the back collar and two front collar piece templates. Trace the floral bouquet template so that you have both a left and right front collar. Position the pattern behind the off- white linen and trace the shapes onto the fabric using an air or water soluble pen. 1
Step two Cut two pieces of interfacing the same size as the linen, place behind the linen and insert into an embroidery hoop. Thread a needle with burgundy ribbon. Make long stitches to create the flower. Insert the needle through the ribbon before pulling through. 2
Step three Stitch two burgundy flowers and one rose pink flower. To make the dusky pink roses, stitch two tiny centre stitches and then stitch four or five longer stitches in a circle so that the next stitch starts 1- 2mm back and the ribbon crosses the previous stitch. 3
Step four To create the bow, stitch two loops catching the loop with a single stitch, then add the tails as a long straight stitch and finish by sewing over the middle once. To create the daisy stems, work stem stitch with the mint green thread. 4 Add some tiny yellow flowers in fly stitch ( see page 103 for a visual guide).
Step five The remaining flowers are worked with French knots. Use two strands of blue cotton, wrapping the thread three times. Work the yellow flowers in ribbon and then fill in with some pink flowers, wrapping the thread five times. Stitch more stems in olive green backstitch using a single strand of cotton. 5
Step six Make the mirror image embroidery for the other side of the collar. Trim the collar pattern to leave a 1.5cm seam allowance. Cut two front and two back collar pieces from linen and two from interfacing positioning on the fold line, as shown. 6
Step seven Layer the interfacing on one back collar. Pin and stitch the shoulder seams as shown. Trim away the interfacing and trim seams to 6mm. Press seams open. Stitch the remaining collar pieces on the shoulder seam. Trim and press seams open. 7
Step eight Pin the two collars right sides together. Leaving a 10cm gap at the centre back on the top edge, machine stitch with a 1.5cm seam allowance. Trim the seams then notch the outer curves as shown and snip the inner curves. Trim across the corners. 8
Step nine Turn the collar through, easing out the corners and curves with the end of a chopstick or a blunt knitting needle. Press on the reverse side using a water spray and hot iron. Turn in the seam allowance at the gap. Slipstitch the gap closed. 9
Step ten Cut two 15cm lengths of ribbon to make a front bow fastening. Fold over the raw end and oversew to the top corner of the collar. Alternatively you could add a pretty button and thread loop to secure. 10