It's more tips for sewing collars this week. Read on for a few tips on how to get a nice, sharp collar point.

Click here to read last week's blog on attaching ribbon to a collar stand. 

1. Start by placing both upper collar pieces right sides together. Pin and sew across the long edge at the top of the collar.

2. Trim, grade and understitch this edge. Give it a good press.

The understitching should be on the under collar piece.

3. Trim 0.3 from the short edge of the under collar piece. This is the piece that will be on the inside of the collar, closest to the body. Doing this helps to keep this it on the inside of the shirt and not rolling to the right side. The trimming should start at 0.3cm where the under collar meets the upper collar, to no trimming at all where the collar is sewn to the main shirt.

4. Pin (making sure that the understitching is laying flat) from the collar point to the neck edge. Then sew. Sewing in this direction means that you shouldn't get a tuck where the two stitching lines meet.

5. Snip out the understitching

6. Fold over the seam allowance at the corner point - and snip off the overhang

7. Trim the seam allowance a little. You still need some seam allowance to be able to fold around the collar point and create a good point here. 

8. Turn the collar to the right side.

A few optional tips.

Here's how to use hemostats for creating a nice sharp corner point. You only clamp the neatly folded seam allowances at the corner, not the corner itself, which is why you don't want to trim away too much seam allowance. 

A point turner is a great tool to carefully turn the point to the right side. Go gently as you can mistakenly make a hole at the point.

A point presser is another great tool for giving your collar a really good press, from the inside and outside. It gets to all the fiddly places.

Click here for further instructions on attaching the collar to the collar stand.