Before you begin the process to sew the collar, begin by making a marking template for the collar stand. Use a seam gauge to mark the seam allowance on the front curve of the collar stand.  

Place a piece of tracing paper with the carbon side down on top of a piece of tagboard (manila file folder). Put the pattern piece on top of the tracing paper. Use a tracing wheel to trace the seam line and the bottom edge. 

Cut out the traced section. 

Interface your collar and stand. We chose to use our Ultrasheer Japanese fusible tricot interfacing on both collars and stands. However, if you are using a heavier fabric you may only need to interface one stand and one collar, using each as the under pieces. When in doubt, interface all pieces. 

Interface a section of fabric first and then cut out the pre-interfaced pieces. 

To prepare the collar pieces, first mark the seam allowances on each corner to use as precise pivot points. Sew the collars together starting and stopping at the corner dots and pivoting at the upper corner. Trim the seams, but don't trim too close and DO NOT trim diagonally across the corners. 

Press the seams open. Place the collar over the curved rail of a tailor's board to press the outer seam open. 

To turn perfect corners, first press the end seam towards the interfaced collar (undercollar). Use the stitching line as a pressing guide. Press the adjacent seam over the end seam. 

Hold the stacked seams with your thumb or the tip of a point turner and turn the collar to the outside. Use a point turner to neaten the corners without poking them.  

Once the collar is sewn, it is a good idea to build some permanent shaping (roll line) into it. Place a tailor's ham in a ham holder. Wrap the collar around the tailor's ham keeping the seam allowance folded down against the ham. Pin the collar to the ham and give it some shots of steam while softly hand pressing the roll. This shifts the raw edges of the collar so they no longer match. 

Machine baste the raw edges together, keeping the roll and offset edges intact. 

Sew the outer stand (the interfaced stand) to the shirt neckline. Clip the neckline seam allowance about every ½ʺ to allow the neckline to open and fit the stand. Make sure the end dot is even with the finished front of the shirt. 

Sew the other stand (the inner and non-interfaced stand) to the right side of the collar. Be careful to match the dots at the top of the curves to the finished ends of the collar. 

Fold the outer stand up and away from the shirt. 

Sew the upper collar and inner stand unit to the outer stand between the dots at the ends of the collar. The collar is sandwiched between the stands. DO NOT trim any seams yet!

To finish the front edge of the stand "burrito style", open the stands with the collar facing up. Fold and pin the center front of the garment into the stand area, below collar. 

Bring the collar down and then the outer stand over the collar, sandwiching the collar and pinned front. Match the curved edges of the stand and pin. 

Turn the work over to expose the previous stitching lines. Place the stand template on the front curve of the stand. Draw around the curved edge of the template to record the stitching line. 

Beginning at the upper dot, sew the center front curve of the stand, pivot at the center front dot and continue stitching over the previous stitching line for about ¾ʺ. 

​Trim all seam allowances, trimming to ⅛ʺ around the curve. Turn to the right side and press. 

Turn the remaining seam allowance of the inner stand to the wrong side just covering the previous stitching. Place the work over a seam roll and slipstitch the stand to the shirt neckline. 

Thanks for joining us for Part Four of the Cottage Shirt Sew Along. Don't miss the other posts in this series:

The Cottage Sew Along Part One: Getting Started

The Cottage Sew Along Part Two: Sewing the Front

The Cottage Sew Along Part Three: Back, Yoke and Shoulder Seams