Success with the Shawl Collar

The more you experiment and the more you design with your Sure-Fit Designs patterns, the more confident you will become.

Joy (from Joyful Expressions) has completed a Shawl Collar blouse.  She followed the directions on page 44-45 of the SFD Dress Kit Instruction book to add this shawl collar design to her SFD Shirt Kit and what a success it has been!  That's one of the many benefits of Sure-Fit Designs is that you can mix and match instructions from one kit and use them on another.

Let's take a look.

First...the pattern.  You'll notice the dart which she added to her shirt pattern for her full bust.

Now, the finished blouse - front...

And the back...

And a close-up of the collar...

Yes, it does have a little inverted 'V' or upside-down dip at CB.  How to avoid this is look at your vellum pattern - draw that segment out twice - and match the CB seam up, just like you would be sewing it.  You'll see this in the patterning/drawing stage.  You can easily reshape this curve before cutting your fabric, which is the only reason I'm pointing this out, so that all of you reading this can learn just one more designing tip.  But quite honestly, had Joy not pointed this 'V' out, you could have easily assumed this was an intended design feature.

Don't get down on yourself when experimenting with designing and drawing your patterns.  All of life is a fabulous learning process, so enjoy the journey!


And knowing Joy as I do from her blogs, she re-drew this pattern and sewed a second shawl collar blouse.  Notice the back of the collar no longer has the inverted 'V'.

Well done Joy!  I'm so glad you are enjoying fitting and sewing with your Sure-Fit Designs pattern kits.

(To read Joy's blog entry about her Shawl Collar experiences, click Joy.)