OK – lets get back to those collars!

If you have stumbled across this blog a few times, you may have seen reference to ‘collars’ – and now that they have paraded down the cat walk it is time to reveal all.

Son No 1 commissioned a few collars for his final collection (menswear at Ravensbourne).  He was specific about what he wanted, but I had to work out how to make them.  The inspiration for both the design and the manufacture came from ‘The Art of Manipulating Fabric’ by Collette Wolf – a brilliant reference book which is available on Amazon etc.  Is would suggest this is a ‘must have’ for all textile enthusiasts.

Step one – made a toile from polyester lining fabric to work out the length of fabric needed.

Step two – cut strips of habotia silk and then applied silk paint in rows

Step three – steaming the silk.  I laid the painted silk onto chip shop paper (unused!) and then rolled the silk and paper onto a wire coat hanger.  This was then laid over the steam bath.  I had to improvise a steamer using large aluminium baking trays from John Lewis!  This technique was taught to Son No 1 by Yvonne Bell, a lovely silk painter who lives nearby ( see http://www.yvonnebell.co.uk/ for more information on what Yvonne does). 

Step four – I gathered the silk (hand stitching rows for gathering about 1 inch apart)

Step five – I then adjusted the gathered silk to fit onto the pattern cut from ‘Stitch and Tear’ – Son No 1 had send pattern

Step six – machine stitch collars onto ‘stitch and tear’ and then remove the ‘stitch and tear’.

Step seven – finish edges with foil covered soft leather.  This was done using double sided tape.  Two strips of tape were stuck to the strip of leather first, then the collar was eased onto one of the taped side, matching up with the middle, the other side folded over and the leather was then stitched close to the edge to neaten.  On the back edge eyes were added to take a thin strip of leather to hold the collar together.

And here is the finished article on the models.

You can see the whole collection plus an interview with Son No 1 on Dazed Digital - Dazed is one of the worlds biggest fashion lifestyle magazines! (You might have to be a bit quick - not sure how long the link will stay up there).  Craft and Fashion collide!