DIY - From turtleneck to lace panels top

 So, a while ago I came across an old turtleneck (top left pic is an internet image of a very similar turtleneck to the one I had), which I have forgotten at the back of my closet. Doesn't this happen to all of us?! :) I like and wear  turtlenecks a lot, but this particular one felt very warm and never wore it too much. So,  given I was really in the mood for a diy I thought I would take my chances at reconstructing this. I had a lot of spare lace and didn't really mind ruining this as I wasn't wearing it much.
The idea was to have panels going on the sides and up the sleeves (top right pic - and now I've learnt not to take white on white pictures, sorry....). Midway through the project I thought to add the lace collar too for more of a ladylike touch.
This project was done a couple of months ago, so unfortunately there are no step by step pictures, but I will do my best to explain what I did. Also, I made some images myself to try and help with the intermediary steps and of course will answer any questions about it. Another thing I should mention is that this took a really long time to complete and needed a lot of patience from me because I don't have a sewing machine, so had to sew everything by hand!

Materials:
- needle and lots of thread, the same colour as your turtleneck.
- lace - this should not only fill in what you originally cut form the turtleneck, but allow a bit of fabric on the sides, to adjust on the way.
- scissors.
- pins.
- tape measure.
- I added some pearl like beads on the collar.

Steps:

1. Think where you would like your lace inserts to go, and put pins in to mark it. If you think it would help, use a pencil to draw on the inside part of it.
2. Take a deep breath, get your courage together and cut alongside the pins you had put in at step 1, as in:

I also cut off the neck at this stage, thinking I will make it like a sweater type top :) Plus, it's easier to handle if you cut the neck off from the beginning - given we'd put in pins and have to turn it inside out and what-not. Save the turtleneck in order to construct the collar out of it.
3. Measure the length between the underarm and the bottom end of the jumper. Cut a piece of lace of that length + a few inches allowance. Also the width of the piece of lace depends on the fabric of the jumper and the style you want to create (loose, fitted etc).
4. Measure the length between the underarm and the end of the sleeve. Again, cut off this length + allowance from the lace fabric. For the sleeves, make sure you cut the lace in a triangular shape, so it narrows as you go towards the wrist. This way the sleeves will follow the arm shape and not be bell-shaped (unless you are going for that style ;) ).
5. Pin the lace on the jumper, making sure that the ends of both materials join on the inside of the jumper. This can be a bit of a tricky and time consuming procedure, as you'd have to make sure that everything aligns well and is of the same dimensions. This is where the allowance comes in ;)
6. Sew, sew, sew - carefully sew everything on, of course on the inside of the jumper. When you reach the ends of the sleeves and the bottom of the jumper, turn the lace inwards to make a seam.
7. Sew the underarms. Here, what I did (after thinking a lot how to join the 2 parts together) was just to sew it across (from the back of the jumper to the front), see pic:

8. Cut all the excess fabric you are left with on the inside.
9. Now, for the collar, I made a little image demonstrating this step:

a. Cut open the turtleneck
b. Draw the collar shape you want on it and of course allow for extra fabric. Measure the neckline on the jumper in order to have the same dimensions. Cut out your collar
c. Cut the same pattern on the lace material
d. Sew the lace on the collar
9. Attach the collar to the top by sewing it along the neckline. Also, I sewed it all along the rounded part too, so it stays fixed on the jumper.
10. Attach embellishment - I added pearl beads, but something of a different colour, for contrast, could work just as well.
The finished results:

 This was for me a very big project to undertake and I am very pleased with how it turned out. Any comments and opinions are more than welcomed! Thank you.

DIY - Party or casual detachable collars

The Peter Pan collars are really big right now, and I really like them. They are lady like and there are loads of very fresh designs out there. And the materials and embellishments options are endless (well..).  The prices on them start from somewhere around £7 and can go up to £30 on the high-street shops. The price is not of importance, but I thought it would be really cool to make my own one :) Quite an interesting project to take on. 
Now for how I did it. The materials I used are:

- paper for the patterns.
- 2 pieces of approximately A4 size material - your desired colour and material for the top part, and a scrap piece of material you may have for the under-layer.
- button and a piece of string (leather) for back closure.
- needle, thread, iron, hemming tape, pins, scissors.
- embellishments.

The steps:

1. The first thing is to find or make yourself a paper pattern for it. You can download a pattern from:

http://matterofstyle.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/peter-pan-collar-diy-free-pattern.html

I made my own paper pattern using a headband as a circle guide for the neck opening. My pattern looks like this (the date on my camera played tricks :) ):

2. Take your base material and cut the exact shape of the collar pattern on the fabric. For more precision you can fold the patter and the fabric in half and cut both sides at the same time.
3. Take your cover material and cut the pattern leaving an allowance of about 2-3cm. This will help you cover the base material safely.
4. Pin the cover cut out on top of your base cut out.
5. Bend the cover material so that it covers all the base material and looks pretty, and using an iron on a medium to low setting iron it so it retains the shape you created.
6.1 Collar 1 - Sew the shape in place (sew the back edges of the cover material on the base material so the stitching doesn't show on the front of the collar). I did the stitching by hand.
6.2 Collar 2 - Using hemming tape (iron on glueing tape), I secured the edges of the cover material on the base material.
7. Sew at the edges a button and a fastening system - I used a small leather string I had lying around ;) You can also sew ribbon on each end and tie it at the back to secure.
8. Embellish at will!! I used sequins, pearl like beads and a bow I made from contrasting colour material.

This type of collar is so pretty and so much fun to do, that I ended making one for myself and also one for a friend! Mine is more party style, and hers is more sophisticated and elegant. And...now...for...the results :) 

Collar 1 - smart sophisticated 

Collar 2 - party time!!

 The quality of the pics may not be too great, the true to colour for the second collar is on the bow detail pic. Also, since these were already done when I posted this, there are no step by step instructions unfortunately.

Here are some links of my inspiration tutorials:

http://www.cremedelacraft.com/2012/09/diy-studded-collar-necklace-from.html 

http://ragstocouture.com/rainbow-pom-pom-collar-necklace-diy-tutorial/

http://thefrugalvegan.net/?p=5720

http://www.savevid.com/video/diy-peter-pan-collar-necklace.html

http://www.twylah.com/styleiconcloset/tweets/287410445843853313

Any opinions on this are more than welcomed! :)