{fashion} DIY Sequined Collar Tutorial

So… about a month ago when Marni for H&M went on sale, the black sequined collar caught my eye and I thought: I could DIY this! It was a bit of a masochistic process though as I stitched ALL the sequins one by one, but I love projects like that, so I didn’t mind! It took me about 3 weeks to complete it, but I was mainly sewing during weekends, so one week will suffice if you dedicate more time! As for the color, I decided that a minty tone would look much better, because: a) it’s more appropriate for spring (not to mention it’s an It color right now!) b) It can be worn during daylight (you can’t do that with a black collar)

What you’ll need:

1) Peter Pan collar pattern (I’ll show you how to do that) or any other collar pattern you desire!

2) about 50cm sturdy fabric (cotton is always a good option, I used viscose, which is not sturdy but it worked in any case, because I bought is for another project as well)

3) adhesive fabric, so as to make the collar more sturdy.

4) 2 tubes of sequins (I used the 8mm by Gutermann, but it would be much easier if you found larger ones)

5) Thread that matches the color of the sequins

6) 1 meter of 8mm black ribbon

NOTE 1: It is advisable that the sequins match the color of the fabric, so if they don’t overlap it will still look nice. Mine don’t always overlap, as in the Marni for H&M collar you will note that they overlap much more.

NOTE 2: If you find a sequined fabric that you like, you’ll make your life much easier as you don’t have to sew all the sequins!

Making Peter Pan Collar Pattern

I made mine by using the basic top patterns. I took the front and back part and overlapped them at shoulder as shown in the diagram. Note: in the shoulder, you must overlap the 2 patterns by 2cm. Then I went 0,5 “inside” of the neckline and started drawing the collar. The width of the collar is 8cm (and each side has 1 cm seam allowance). That’s how you get half of the pattern!

Sewing the Peter Pan Collar

Fold your fabric and attach the pattern on top using pins und cut. You’ll need to cut 2 pieces of fabric and one of adhesive fabric. Then you iron the adhesive fabric onto one of the fabric pieces. For me this the “down” side of the collar, the one that’s on my neck and shoulders and I sew the sequins on the part of the fabric without the adhesive.

As I was making the collar I didn’t take any pictures in order to show you the process, but I found a very good tutorial about it! The only difference is that I cut the fabric in a whole part, while the tutorial I’m linking you to, has a stitch on the back.

Sewing the sequins

And now the fun (and most time-consuming part!!) I started from the middle back and started sewing forwards. In order to make sure the sequins are stable I used 2 stitches for each of them, as shown in the photo below. Also in the photo above you can see the way I’ve sewn the  sequins: when I reached the curve I continued sewing until I the part of the collar that touched the neck. I think it looks nicer that the sequins follow the collar’s curve instead of just sewing them in “straight” lines.

And after some days, hours and lot’s of patience there you have your collar!!! Wear it with pride…and maybe a matching nail polish (I did that)!

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