Collar pattern needed

[Seda Navilli]

I have almost finished my tunic... the last thing I have to do is make a collar for the neck and down to the bottom of my tunic. Everything else in the tunic I have made the designs/pattern for, but I have no idea how to make the curve for the collar, so that it goes around my neck properly. Does anyone have a pattern I could use?

[JediKai]

The piece is just a straight, long strip, folded over. You pull the garment straight, pin it to it and sew in place.

I use a kimono pattern, McCall's 2940
home.comcast.net/~jedikai/Part2.pdf

[Seda Navilli]

just a straight strip? Doesnt that mean that when it goes around your neck it bunches up?

The material I'm using is alot stiffer than crinkle cotton, I dont think i can pull it straight

[Seda Navilli]

You guys will have to excuse my ignorance, this is my first time sewing.

This is the pattern for my tunic, unfolded (without sleeves):

img244.echo.cx/img244/7578/tunicidea5ys.jpg

If I try to put a straight strip around the collar, it wont fold over properly around the neck (it bunches up and looks ugly) because a straight piece of fabric naturally doesnt want to bend like that.

[Seda Navilli]

Hmm I'll try tacking it on like that and see how it goes.

the thing is that my material is alot thicker/stiffer than yours, I dont think it will behave, but I will try

Thanks heaps everyone

[Ani-Chay Pinn]

If the collar is really stiff, try making a narrower collar with a straigth strip. A narrower strip behaves better and will fit better around the neck than a wide one.

I've tried a curved strip for a collar with varying lack of success. A long strip for the collar with a curve in it is an odd shaped piece and you may not have enough fabric to cut it all out in one piece.

And with a curved strip, you can't fold it over at the edge. The only way to have a finished edge with the curve is to sew two matching curved pieces together, fold over and press, so you have a seam right at the edge of the collar. It's really better to just have it folded over and you really need a straight fabric piece for that.

[Jun-Aape Sio]

Erm having no experience making Jedi tunics...
My Karate gi is made with the collar in three pieces; one goes around the neck and down to the overlap the other two go from there down (it's made of denum so it's a major pain to work with in the same way you think you're having this problem) I say you "think you're having a problem because even though it looks horrible when you first sew it on once you press it and put it on somehow magicaly it's usually right.
However if you are still having problems taming it I would try quilting the collar every quarter inch or so long-ways and that should do it. (the quilting just makes the layers lie flat against each-other so it doesn't get all bunchy)
Hope this helps,
J-A.S.

[Nova Darklighter]

You will probably need to cut it on the bias of the fabric, then the fabric will give with the curve. It's closing time here now, I'll see if I can find the directions that are here on and OLD page and bump them, or you could go back in the past pages and look for them, it is easy to do, but takes a bit of extra fabric. I always cut my neckbands on the bias of the fabric as they will always lay correctly, and without a fight. They are however correct, it is a straight strip of fabric.

[JediKai]

Lay the tunic down opened, such that the curved neck becomes straight. You'll have to pull it a little. Then pin the heck out of the neck strip. You have to put it on right sides together, sew it down, then fold it over to the inside and sew again, possibly by hand. The iron it, as that will also help to make it look right.

To expand on Nova's post about bias cut...... the salvage is that straight edge along both sides of the length of fabric that is a little finished. The bias is turned 90 degrees to that.
See illustration here: public.fotki.com/Kait/star_wars/host/bias.html

[Seda Navilli]

Aargh I've been trying and trying all this week to get the collar working with no luck.

A straight strip is out of the question, my fabric will not stretch at all, and I can't pull it straight.

Nova: I have never sewn before; that explanation was probably a good one but I didnt understand a word of it!

I was thinking about cutting 2 strips, and having a seam in the collar, but I am having so much trouble designing the shapes for it that I want to pull my hair out. I can't believe it, everything else on the tunic worked great, and now I'm so close to finishing it and this one thing has turned out to be so horribly difficult.

Sorry this post has turned into a bit of a rant, thanks very much for everyone's interest I guess its just something that I have to work out myself

[Seda Navilli]

Well, some good news!

I worked at it and have finally gotten the collar to work! I still need to do some more trimming and sewing, but its almost done, which means my tunic is almost done! I'll try and get pics of it when I'm finished

[Nova Darklighter]

Ok, I found the directions I wrote a very long time ago, if you go to page 1 of Costumes in General, and the find the tread on Making Costumes, go to pg 3 of that thread, on lower 1/2 of page you'll find the directions, try adding those to the photo illustration that Jedi Kai posted, together they might make a little more sense. Try this method on a future attempt. There is a lot of useful info on the older pages of that forum, try reading back in the old posts on pages 3-6.

[Schph Gochi]

The collar is very frustrating.....I have done a couple different variations of the neckband...the more I have done it though...the easier it does get...

One of the methods I had used was to take my actual tunic pattern.....trace the pattern's outer curve and form a strip that has the same curve as the tunic....
my first pattern (McCall's Space Nomads-which came out in 1999 to co-incide with Phantom Menace) handled the neckband like that....it was a curved neckband that matched the tunic....

[Xana]

This was one of the hardest parts of the entire costume. I tried it both on a bias and not on a bias. It was difficult either way. Cutting on a bias worked around the neckline, BUT gave me problems further down the tunic. The way I found around it, was to make a seam at the waist, on the band, and cut a new band, NOT on a bias, from the waist down. That solved my problem big time! It's not all in one piece, but it doesn't matter, because your obi and belt cover the seams. Next costume I do, THAT'S how I am going to handle it. I like Schph's idea too. That sounds mighty do-able!

[Leda EmBorr]

After making 5 tunics... I think that getting the neckband right has more to do with the way the tunic neckline itself is cut, rather than fabric not stretching or bias.

Bias has never worked for me either. And Obi-Wan's is not cut on the bias, which proves that crinkly fabric can be done straight. I only made one tunic that was not crinkly and the neckband turned out horrible. One of these days I'm going to rip it off and do it over.

Glad yours finally worked, Seda!