My husband is arguably even cheaper more frugal than I am. Plus he gets attached to his clothes. Take this favorite shirt, for example. He brought this to me a couple of weeks ago.
“Can you fix this? It’s a perfectly good shirt,” he tells me.
Except for the collar, honey. The collar is falling apart. It looks like time for a new shirt.
“It’s just frayed a little.” Then comes the best part. “The underside of the collar is like new. Couldn’t you just switch it around?”
Do you think I work magic here? Well, apparently he does think that, and honestly flipping the collar over was a great idea to repair the frayed shirt collar. So I took the project on and, just for you, I’ve got the whole thing documented so that you can fix a frayed collar and keep a favorite shirt around just a little longer.
I went into a lot of detail with the photos, but don’t get overwhelmed. The gist of the project is: Take the collar off, flip it over, sew it back on. Easy enough, right?
Here’s what you’ll need:
- A button up shirt with a frayed collar that is worth saving. Really, if the elbows are worn thin or the sleeve cuffs are fraying in addition to the collar problem, it’s probably best to try to save a different shirt.
- Advanced beginner sewing skills. This isn’t a super difficult project, but it’s not sewing a pillowcase either.
- The following sewing supplies: Good seam ripper, pins, light weight iron-on interfacing (I used knit interfacing), sewing machine with thread to match the shirt, hand sewing needle
Remove the collar from the neck band of the shirt
Step 1. Find the top stitching that is holding the collar to the neck band and use the seam ripper to remove it.
Step 2. You may have noticed the collar did not come off the neck band yet. There is another row of stitching holding it on. Find that stitching by using tension to spread the collar and neck band away from each other, exposing the threads holding them together. Use your seam ripper to pick out this seam and remove the collar from the neck band. Mark the neck band at each side where the collar attaches so you know right where to put it back in at.
Stop the fraying on what will now be on the underside of the collar
Steps 3 through 5 are totally optional, but they’ll make the collar last a little longer, especially if there is some intense fraying going on!
Step 3. Cut pieces of interfacing to cover the fraying sections of collar. Even though the fraying will be on the underside, it will continue to fray in the wash, so to keep it together as best we can, we’re going to cover each frayed area with fusible interfacing. You do not want this stiff, so use very light weight interfacing–mine is knit interfacing. If the interfacing pieces are too close to the front edge, they could be seen after the collar is turned over. Keep them back from the front edge as much as possible. DO extend the interfacing pieces to the bottom raw edge so they’ll get caught in the new seam when you reattach the collar.
Step 4. Iron the interfacing pieces over the frayed sections of collar to secure them to the collar. The interfacing has a shiny side–that is the side you want facing the fabric when you iron it, otherwise it will just stick itself to the iron and make a mess.
Step 5. Stitch around the interfacing edges. This is optional, but iron on interfacing does eventually come loose through repeated washings, so I hand sewed a quick running stitch around the three edges that won’t be stitched in with the collar. Just sew through the one layer of collar so the stitching doesn’t show on the good side that will be the new top.
Re-attach the collar
Step 6. Sew the collar to the inside of the neck band. Separate the two pieces of neck band, and un-fold the inside piece. Use the marks you made at the end of step 2 to line up the collar, OR find the center of the collar and the center of the neckband by folding them in half and match the two center lines together when you pin the collar back in.
Pin the collar to the INSIDE half of the neck band so that the NEW RIGHT SIDE of the collar is facing the right side of inside half of the neck band. If that side included the interfacing (white inside layer of fabric), you can see right where to stitch them together. Use the center stitching line as your guide. You want to stitch where the collar was attached with the seam we ripped out in step 2.
Step 7. Fold the collar up, tucking the bottom raw edge into the space between the neck band pieces. Pin the outer neck band piece to the collar, keeping the fold that is already in it. Match the folded edge to the seam you just made in step 6. You won’t see this seam when you’re finished as it will be on the under side of the collar.
Step 8. Top stitch across the neck band to secure the collar in place.
Make it pretty
Step 9. Once the collar is attached, iron it. It is folding a whole new direction than it has ever done before. If the collar has a particularly stubborn fold the old direction, use a spray of 1 part white vinegar to 3 parts water on the fabric and iron the new fold into the collar.
That’s it. Happy husband reunited with a favorite shirt! Totally cheap.
Here’s an image for pinterest!
Keep preparing! Angela
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My Mom taught me to do this about 57 years ago, didn’t know anybody did it any more. Glad to see your instructions. Can do the same thing with shirt cuffs but have to switch sleeves if they button so they button correctly. I’ve also completely removed a frayed collar from one of my shirts and made a collarband instead.
I’m 24 and barely pass as “advanced beginner”, but I did this as a teenager to one of my brother’s dress shirts after reading that it was an old New England custom. Not knowing any better, I didn’t use interfacing, but it was an oxford collar and I’m sure the buttons helped slow the continuing damage. I just ripped out the collar, flipped it over, and stitched it back in by hand. That shirt got another two years of frequent, sweaty-necked wear!
For anyone looking askance at the tutorial, relax – it’s much easier than it looks!
Remove the collar and give him back a collar-less shirt
My grandmother, widowed before my mother was born, taught my mother to do this. Not everyone that lived during the Depression could sew, so my grandmother could do this for profit, maybe a trade. She also either cut off the sleeves or turned over the cuffs. Shortening sleeves solved the frayed elbow problem. Large patches of a contrasting color can be sewn over the elbows either before the shirt elbows were worn threadbare or afterward to repair the elbows. I use Fray Chek on frays even if it is repaired in order to slow the disintegration.
This is awesome! I was trying to figure out a discreet way to patch my shirt collar when I came on your page. Such a good idea!! There was a lot of fraying on my collar’s band as well as the leaf, so I flipped the whole thing. The button’s on the wrong side when you do that, but I never button it up all the way anyway so I’ll probably leave it. Thanks for the good pics!
O… M…. G!!!!!! That sounds like my husband!!!! “It’s a perfectly good shirt!!!” Shoot, had I seen this before convincing him to “move on and get over it” he would have thought I was a sewing goddess!! I’m an old country girl and my grandma grew up during the depression. She sewed everything but I never remember her mentioning fixing collars. Well, I’ll be sure to give this a try next time, if for no other reason than out of respect for those that did it before us. Great tutorial!!!!!!! Thanks!!
I’ve done this!!! And you’re right, it’s not that hard. But I agree, it’s not always worth turning a collar if there are other worn spots in the shirt. I love mending, but sometimes there’s just not enough strong fabric left to hold the repair.
Hahaha…. by the time my husband’s shirt collars are worn, the elbows are completely gone. I try and talk him into letting me turn them into short sleeve shirts, and he says, “But then I’ll lose my forearm protectors!”
Love this solution! Thanks for the tutorial. I’ll add it to the pile of sewing fix-its I am collecting before eventually getting around to repairing some clothes. :D
My grandmother and mother used to do this during the war when clothing was rationed. My mum taught me when I was a teenager. I’ve done it countless times since, it’s called ‘turning a collar’.
if the shirt is other wise good, this is a great time to steal it for your wardrobe. cut a nice scooped neck, sew in the side seems to be a flattering shape, and shorten the sleeves to a 3/4 length. finish edges with contrasting bias tape, and maybe change the buttons.
also, shirts last much longer if you air dry them. just hang them on the hanger, just a short, light chain for clothes line so the hangers dont slide, and hang them right in the closet!