Turtleneck to Round Collar

Hello Readers. And Happy New Year to you. It is cold and wintertime means I need to bundle-up to stay warm. I like to be warm but I hate wearing turtleneck shirts and sweaters. I always feel like someone is strangling me. I can't take it. It's too much. I would rather be cold. I usually find a way to alter turtlenecks so I can be more comfortable when I wear them. Let me show you what I did.  

Before and after. Tight and uncomfortable to fun and easy to wear. 

 This gray knit turtleneck dress was soft and great to layer under other clothes. It was a tight- 

knit ribbed cotton material. The turtleneck part of this dress was not working for me though. I just did not like how it fit. 

  

I decided to cut the turtle neck open. I marked the center of the neck with sewing chalk. It is easy to see the marks but washes right out in the laundry.

 I cut the turtleneck open with sharp fabric scissors. Dull scissors make messy cuts in the fabric. I cut right on top of the chalk mark. 

 I liked how the turtleneck now opened up like a shirt collar but I wanted to finish the cut edges somehow. The tight weave of this knit won't fray. I could leave it like this but they might not look nicely finished. And I wanted something a little cuter and a little more fun.

 

I folded the neck so that one cut edge was right on top of the other. I cut the corners of the collar so they would be round. I cut them both at the same time so they would be symmetrical. I didn't want a lop-sided collar.

 

 I liked the shape of the round collar and it will be easier to sew lace on the edges with curves as opposed to the sharp corners I cut at first. 

  

  I picked some lace trim that I had on-hand in my sewing stash to dress-up the new collar. (Similar lace can be found here.)

I used my sewing machine to stitch the trim on the edge of the collar. I used a zigzag stitch with white thread to match the lace. I stitched right on top of the lace trim. This attached it to the edge of the new collar and hid the cut edges.

 This was a quick easy project. I liked the bright white trim. It helped brighten up this plain dark gray dress. 

  

This was a quick and easy project that will be much more comfortable for me to wear. And it's cuter too. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.