Jazz up your old clothes: Embroider a Peter Pan collar

So whilst Meg from Makewells  is overseas soaking up all the joys of *London Baby* (insert Austin Powers voice) I created this tutorial to guest post over at her blog.
It is a really simple DIY project I created especially for Makewells readers  last week and I would love for you all to have a go here at Bally Who - especially all my fellow Blogging Your Way classmates.

How does an embroidered Peter Pan collar sound to you? A great way to jazz up any old plain top you have in your wardrobe. This is a really do-able project for anyone no matter what sewing ability you have.

For this project you will need:

• A round neck top (the higher the neck the better the result)
• Some DMC embroidery thread in your chosen colours
• Tailors chalk
• Scissors
• Peter Pan template - download my PDF here
• Pins
• Embroidery needle

The main stitch I have used for this is the Chain Stitch. Below is a quick how-to guide I have put together for anyone new to the Chain Stitch.

 Tutorial

1. Download the template for the Peter Pan collar here and cut and pin the template to the neck of the top
2. Trace the outline of the template onto your top and remove the paper and pins
3. Starting from the centre of the neckline choose a high contrasting coloured thread to chain stitch the outline of the collar.
4. Choose a colour to begin the detailing of the collar

Start filling in the outline as you would like choosing alternating colours, thickness of embroidery and and spacing. You can use different stitches if you like to create different detailing and designs in the collar. I used a mixture of Chain Stitch, Back Stitch and stars to make the pattern in my collar.

Continue filling in the outline untill you are happy it is complete
Trim any loose ends and tie-off your last thread and enjoy your fab new top!



This is a project you can smash out in one evening if you keep the detailing simple and don't fill the collar in too much OR you can spend a few evenings sewing away at it. A tip for choosing the right top: the higher the neckline the better the collar will look. I struggled to find a long sleeve top without a low neckline as we are coming into the Australian Summer - but for all you Northern Hemisphere folk this shouldn't be an issue!
All up the project cost me a total of $7. The top was on clearance at my local Target for $3 and the DMC embroidery thread is only 98c a colour.
A quick and simple and cheap DIY project for anyone.
Please let me know if you have completed the project or if you have any questions at all!! I would love to hear from you and see the finished products!
Hope to hear from you soon!