A Step By Step Tutorial of the Collar McCall's 2149

I haven't really gone back and posted things that I missed posting about when I made something, but I am going to here since I took pictures of making McCall's 2149 step by step as a tutorial for beginners when making this mens shirt.  It is really a simple shirt esp. if you don't add pockets, which Q doesn't want anyway.  Pockets aren't that difficult to add, though, if you want to do so.

First is the collar.  I made this with 3 other shirts and in doing so I did two with the interfacing on the bottom piece and two with it on the upper piece.  I didn't really see a significant difference at the time.  I just ran upstairs to check on these shirts and now you cannot even tell which side is interfaced without pulling the collar apart.  So while I have read advice telling me both different ways, I wouldn't worry about it.  Pick the side you like.  Here I have the interfacing on the upper collar piece.  Sew around the sides and top of the collar and clip the corners off.

Then I use the rotary cutter to trim all around the sewn sides.

Then flip it around and press.

I use a pin to gently pull out the corners so they come to a point.

Then I pin the lower collar piece to the right side of the shirt, where the two front pieces have already been sewn to the back.  This is one of the few places that I actually use pins and I'm rather generous with them.

I pin the collar so that it meets right up to the edge of the collar.

Then I sew right to that edge.

 For the front facing pieces, I place the fusible side of the interfacing away from the right side of the facing piece.

Then I sew along the inside (the side that will be away from the button holes).

I then flip it around and press, fusing the interfacing to the facing.

I then sew this piece to the shirt front pieces.

I sew carefully when I get to the collar to capture the lower piece of the collar.

 I stop at the point of  meeting the collar so that I can enclose the facing in the collar.  Then like before I trim the facing and corner.

Then I flip it around and press, again using a pin to gently pull out the corner to a point.

 I iron the edge of the upper collar piece under to meet exactly with the lower piece.

I fold them back together and zigzag over the seam while meeting them up exactly.

The finished shirt.

Here you can see the topstitching of the shirt around the collar and also if you click on the picture to enlarge it, you will see the zigzag.  If I have chosen a contrasting thread for the topstitching, I will choose the best blending thread for the zigzag.

I'll follow this post with another post with pictures of the other 3 shirts I made in June.