Sewing Notes - Simplicity 2195

In my last post I said that Simplicity 2195 had good bones but needed some tweeks to meet my tastes. The main problem with the pattern is the odd drafting of the collar, which I frankly feel was done to "dumb down" the pattern.

When it comes to shirt collars my favorite construction is a separate stand and collar. I like how the collar folds when there is a seam involved.  That being said, if a vintage look is what I have in mind then an "all in one collar" and facing is the way to go. I know that the collar is going to sit against the body differently, but that's a decent trade off for the vintage style of the garment. 

Now let's look at the collar pieces for Simplicity 2195 to see how this "trade off" went from being acceptable to head scratching nonsense. (In my own opinion, of course.)

Here are the two collar pieces.  The under collar has been drafted in the standard way of an "all in one collar." I would expect this piece to be marked collar and say cut 2.  Instead the upper collar is a separate piece that also has part of the facing attached.  The front facing is pieced because if you cut the collar on the straight grain the facing will be on the bias.  The drafter correctly thought an entire front facing on the bias would be bad news and separated the pieces right under the first buttonhole placement.

To sew the garment you first attach the under collar to the neckline, much as you usually would.

Then the upper collar and facing pieces are sewn together and the outer edge of the facing is turned over and sewn. Usually I ignore this sort of finish and run a line of overlock on the facing instead. This time it was important to get rid of that seam allowance and you'll see why in a minute.

Then the entire outer edge of the shirt front and collar are sewn, trimmed and pressed. This leaves you with the upper edge of the collar not attached to anything.

To finish off the area, the edge of the collar is slip stitched to the seam allowance of the under collar. This is why the facing edge had to be finished with a stitch and turn. Otherwise the two areas would not match up.

In the final shirt the overall look is the same as a regular "all in one collar," but to the wearer it feels different.  Like I said in the original review post the facings want to flip out most of time. They were drafted narrower so that the upper collar could be slip stitched in place. The lack of seam on the upper collar also affects how the collar folds, or more accurately doesn't want to fold. I had to press the heck out of it to get it to look semi-right and still it irks me.

My plans for this pattern are to figuratively chuck the upper collar piece and cut two of the under collar. Then I'll draft a new back and front facing at a slightly wider width so that they don't flip out all the time. With a slightly shifted button placement, this pattern should work great for me. Now I just gotta put it back on the sewing list...under a million dresses.