Turnover Collar

The Turnover collar is a close-fitting stand up collar.  All you need to make this collar is the neckline measurements of your block; the front neck and the back neck measurements.

Note that the Turnover collar is also the base for the two-piece shirt collar; i.e. the two pieces consist of a stand (also called a band) and the top collar – the top collar part is the Turnover collar (and the stand is the Mandarin with a 1-inch extension for the button).  When making the turnover collar to be used by itself, you include a stand width, when making it to be attached to a band (Mandarin) collar, you leave out the stand width.

Example: Outcome

Figure A shows the collar that will be created in the step-by-step instructions below.

Note that the collar is drafted as a half-collar. If you want to create a whole pattern piece, you need to fold a piece of paper and put the CB on that fold before drafting the pattern piece.

The same pattern piece is being used for the collar and the under-collar; you can create a separate under-collar that is slightly smaller so that the seam-line is not seen.  If you want to draft an under-collar, see the last steps of both the Basic Collar and the Peter Pan collar to see how it is done.

Instructions (Turnover Collar) – Figure 1

• Measure the Back Neck curve and Front Neck curve of your Bodice Block.
• Add these two measurements together

In this example the Front Neck is 4.56 inches and the Back Neck is 3.25 inches.  Total neckline measurement (for half-block) = 7.81-inches.

Instructions (Turnover Collar) –  Figure 2

As mentioned in the introduction, the Turnover collar can be drafted to be used by itself as a one-piece collar, or drafted as part of the two-piece collar.  In this example I am creating it as a one-piece with a width of 3-inches; this includes the stand and fall.  If you were drafting it as the top of a two-piece, you would probably create it between 2 and 2.75-inches.

We are going to draft a half-pattern; you can choose to draft it so the CB is on a folded piece of paper so that you end up with the whole pattern piece if you wish.

Draw a rectangle:

• the height of the rectangle is the collar width (A to B) –  3 inches.
• the length of the rectangle is the Total Neckline measurement (A to C).  In my example 7.81 inches.

Instructions (Turnover Collar) –  Figure 3

• Using the Back Neck measurement, measure from point A and mark the Shoulder Point E.
• Square up from E to the B~D line and mark point F.
• Draw another line 1-inch below and parallel to the A~C line, and mark the end point G.

Instructions (Turnover Collar) –  Figure 4

• Draw a line from E to G.
• Draw a line from G at right angles to the E~G line; the length of the line being the collar width (in this example 3-inches). Mark point H.  (Of course, this line should be the same length as A~B.)
• Draw a line from H to F.

Instructions (Turnover Collar) –  Figure 5

To finish off the basic shape:

• Draw a curved line from F to H.
• Draw a curved line from E to G.

There are numerous ways you can shape the collar edge of the collar, and you can also finesse the neckline edge as well (to make the fit a little better).  Click on the links to see these details.

Instructions (Turnover Collar) –  Figure 6

• Add seam allowance.
• Make sure your shoulder notch is marked.
• If you were making this as the top part of a two-piece collar you would also notch where this collar joins the band.
• Label, and mark cutting instructions.