Dressember #1-Scratchy Collar

 Hello Readers. It is December already. That means it is time for Dressember. Dressember is a style challenge and fund raiser all in one. Dressember raises money by having advocates wear dresses (Or ties!) everyday to raise money to fight human trafficking. I have been participating for a few years (You can see my daily Dressember adventures on Instagram.) and it is amazing to see how they work with partner organizations to maximize their efforts. Check out their website and visit my Dressember page to learn more and give if you are able. 

Today's post is about a wonderful wool dress that just needed a little trim to be ready to wear. I really liked this dress. It was a classic sheath dress and it was beautiful soft material. The lining was in great shape too. But that collar!

 

Before and after.

 

Look at this black and white collar. (Why is it black and white when the dress is green?) It looks like it would be fabulous. But it was as hard and scratchy as sand paper. How could I wear the dress with a sandpaper collar? It had to go.

 

 I thought I could remove the collar because it looked so nicely finished underneath. It would look great even without the collar.

So... I cut the collar off and I could see the neckline better. I cut as close to the dress as I could but I was SO careful not to cut the dress. 

I did some hand sewing to hold onto any loose threads that wanted to pop out from my cutting. This didn't add anything decorative, it was just to keep the neckline secure.

I also found these snaps under the collar. whatever they were for is missing now so I removed them with my seam ripper.

 

 I used embroidery floss to hand stitch along the neck line to hide the cut edge of the collar. 

 

I did this twice so that the thick embroidery floss would be all that was visible.

I thought this shirt would add a pop of brightness so I wore it under the dress. The dog wandered in and seemed to have doubts about what I was doing.

I made this long sleeve shirt a little more fitted so I could wear it under this dress easier. I didn't want the shirt to be too loose and/or bulky. It is still comfortable but there isn't a lot of excess fabric under the dress.

I love the dress without the black and white collar. It is a wonderful dark green color. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

*Year End Note From Chickie- This dress was so much better for me without the collar. It is soft and cozy and great in winter.