Magic or "Boomerang" Collars

[judith]

Needles scare me.
(So do interfacing and collars, but I'm willing to start untangling needles first.)

Interfacings and collars used to scare me, too, until I noticed that my most-worn rtw blouses didn't have any interfacing, and started sewing my blouses without any. Then I learned how to do a boomerang collar. Now life is easier.

[sdBev]

Interfacings and collars used to scare me, too, until I noticed that my most-worn rtw blouses didn't have any interfacing..

One of my favorites fell apart and I saw it had some kind of scrim or cheescloth instead of the "high quality" interfacings I always used.  I started reading more about interfacings and testing on my own.  It's often possible to use the same fabric for interfacing and shirt.  Test, test test and yes some fabrics have enough body on their own that they don't need interfacing for the garment their being made into. 

[Liz Schneider]

Judith, you're so bad  !  You've now got me anxious to know what is a boomerang collar!  We need to start a new thread, now!  But thanks to all who've linked me to info.  I shall be reading those articles and learning about needles, and trying not to let Judith tempt me just yet.  But even after sewing several years, there is SO much to learn! 

[judith]

Sorry Liz, I do tend to get off topic. The boomerang collar, also called (I think) a magic collar was apparently developed by Louise Cutting. I learned about it in a newsletter from Timmel fabrics. There are details here somewhere, I think the topic had to do with getting a "crisp" collar - I bet you can search here for "crisp collar" and find it.  In a nutshell, you make an extra collar pattern piece, split it so that it's on each end of the original collar piece, then if you fold it in half it looks like a boomerang. You cut the pattern piece on the fold, sew the two ends together and the long edge, turn, and voila, a collar with no seam at the pointed parts. \

I am a lazy sewer. If a step irritates me, and I can avoid it rather than learn to do it properly, I'll take the easy way out.

Edited: Aha! I did a google search and found Nancy Zieman's instructions for a magic collar - looks like the same thing as boomerang. Here's a link:

http://www.nancysnotions.com/jump.do?itemID=5&itemType=LANDING&page=Collar