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sewing new t shirt neck line

11 years ago

I cannot find for the life of me any videos or instructions on how to alter tshirt collars. I want to widen the neck line, then sew it so the neck line band is thin. Like it is rolled under twice and then sewed. I have never done this before, so Im not sure it will work if i try it myself. Im afraid it will be puckered. Any links?

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Comments (6)

noinwi
11 years ago
I would use a facing of some sort. Rolling the hem under has never worked for me(but I'm of intermediate experience). I have used bias tape and ribbed knit in the past. Instead of folding the hem over, stitch knit strip or bias tape(opened up)to neckhole with right sides together. Trim seam allowance. Fold tape over to the inside of neckhole and "stitch in the ditch" on the outside along the seam line. Trim excess facing close to stitching.
Here's a site I found with different techniques...

Here is a link that might be useful: stretch necklines
dowlinggram
11 years ago
Knits like t-shirts are hard to sew without stablizers. Get yourself some tear away stablizer. It will hold the neckline stable to sew it. It makes it so it won't stretch out of shape. Cut your neckline and iron on a stablizer strip so it's on each side of your stitching line--about an inch strip will do.

Take your neck band and sew it together. If you are making it much larger you will have to use new banding material or it won't fit around the opening without stretching it out of shape. If you can't find the right color use a contrasting one. OR-- you can use the existing one like bias tape so it won't matter if it's stretched.

Put the seam at center back on the wrong side and pin or baste, then sew on the band. Tear away the stablizer. Turn it to the right side and under 1/4 inch and baste by hand on the right side over the stitching of the side of the band already sewn. Then machine sew it.
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Pressing before you sew is the key, especially along the bias. or you could buy a rolled hem foot and take a year to master it. So without the rolled hem foot, press an eighth of an inch up all around the edges, then turn another eighth of an inch and sew with a small straight stitch. sometimes that dissovable tape helps on curves, by keeping the folds where you want them. and remember that whenever you turn a curve you are going to have to do infinitesible gathering. If all fails, serge those little suckers with a rolled hem stitch and enjoy the funkiness of the edges.
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As far as purchasing any more clothes, look for shirts marked athletic cut, slim, etc. My brother had the same problem with a large neck, slim torso, short arms (32 length), difficult to find, and never cheap to buy. Dress slacks were a nightmare with a 30 waist and slacks start at 32, have them altered, or buy adjustable waist slacks...jeans, t-shirts, and sweaters were never a problem. Apparently over the years, sizes bagged out to accommodate the hip-hop style for teens and young adults, which you may have a plentiful stock of this type. Now as a young adult in college and about the enter the business world, you will have to go to a good department or men's store to at least get a good idea of what a good fit is...and you will need at least one good suit, shirt, tie and dress shoes down the road when you start interviewing and more formal social occasions. If you go to some of the store sites on line, they have sizing charts that will give you a good idea...you will have to measure yourself or have someone measure you. You will also receive a good education of men's sizing. I give you a lot of credit for learning to operate a sewing machine and learning technical terms and techniques too.
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If you have a zig-zag stitch available on your machine, Here's the simplest way to hem your T-shirt: 1) First, cut your T-shirt off half an inch longer than you want it to be (for hem allowance) 2) Then fold & iron that half inch over to the back side of the T-shirt (making sure not to stretch the fabric very much). 3) Now: Set your sewing machine zig-zag stitch to about 3 or 3 & a half (or somewhere mid-way on your stitch guide, not to big & not to small) then set your stitch LENGTH to about 6 or 8 or a bit smaller... You want the stitch length & width to be JUST big enough to work. If it's to wide, it won't look right. 4) Turn T-shirt right-side out & sew from the inside hem area. Now sew your hem like this: When stitching the zig-zag stitch, have the zig hit the shirt-only area & the zag hit the hem area... As the Zig-Zag alternates: Every other stitch should hit the hem area. Continue to sew your hem all the way around. ---> This is how I sew all of my hems on knit garments. You won't have to worry about the garment raveling or fraying because thin knits don't fray. And don't worry about it looking "Unprofessional" because no one looks THAT close at your hem... As long as you have MATCHING THREAD (or invisible thread on pattern garments) the hem will look fine & be Super-Easy to do! (& the zig-zag stitch will stretch along with the knit fabric) * If your machine doesn't have a zig-zag stitch you can iron the hem to about half an inch in length, then sew the hem by hand. * If you don't have an iron, just fold the hem as you sew, being careful to keep the hem as even as possible. ---> The directions above are only for thin, knitted fabrics, with or without stretch. When hemming a WOVEN garment you MUST fold the cut area of the fabric under the hem & use a STRAIGHT stitch with a long stitch length.
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Sorry to see you got lining origami for your efforts...think we all did that with our first lining projects, in your case, length of time got you. Colleenny is right, you sew the underarm seams and neckline seams to about 3/4" before the end of the shoulder seams and leave the shoulder seams unstitched, press. Turn the lining in (I always like to poke the shoulders back in on themselves to start the process with lining following to the inside when I give it a good shake), poke any corners and curves out, and adjust the lining as you press. Then you sew the shoulder seams together (pin the lining out of the way on each tail to get it out of the way. Then you whipstitch the lining down to cover the seam (I always stick the one end of the free lining seam allowance down the back shoulder of the bodice, turn the lining over 5/8" and stitch it down that way).
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pamelasv
Original Author
11 years ago
Thankyou so much for your info. I would need pictures for this tho, as I am a very beginner.
Reds2k104
11 years ago
I don't know what type of sewing machine you are using but a lot of machines have some pretty specialty decorative stitches that you might be able to just take off the old band and stitch around the neckline. You would need to use a stabilizer on the back as dowlinggram suggests. You might also try adding some type of trim such as a pre-gathered lace ruffle or braid or picot, check out the trim section for ideas. The main thing is to use stabilizer to keep the shape.
pamelasv
Original Author
11 years ago
Thankyou for your post, Reds2k, I will look into that. And thanks for the other reply's, don't hesistate to offer any suggestions in the future.
Annie Deighnaugh
11 years ago
Knits won't ravel so you could just cut the neckline a little smaller than you want it, use a stretch overcast stitch to stabilize the edge of the fabric, fold under and then top stitch it as narrow as you like...using a stretch stitch that looks like a straight stitch would be best as you need to maintain the stretch to get it over your head.

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