CUSTOMISING AN OLD H&M SHIRT WITH A SELF MADE SILK COLLAR

 I bought this shirt from H&M years ago and decided to throw it away. But as I was posting a month ago I will try not to throw away the clothes I am not wearing anymore and I will make an effort avoiding to support our buy- wear- chuck- away- half- a- year- later society. I got really nice silk fabric from work which I also rescued from the dust bin. The silk were sample materials for ties. I will comment on the steps in order to cover the collar of the old shirt and give the shirt a new lease of life again. I hope I can inspire you also to throw away less and re-use your old clothes.

Step 1: Here you can see the fabric and the shirt. Step 2: I did not make a photo of it. Actually you take a piece of paper ( can be baking paper which is quite strong and slightly see through). You put the paper on the collar and draw the shape of the collar. After you have done that you can make the outline more neat by re-drawing the line with a ruler. Than you also draw the seam allowance which is 1.5 cm or half an inch.

 Step 3: Pin the collar pattern to the fabric and cut it out.

 Step 4: Pin the cut out fabric to the collar and be careful the there is an equal amount of seam allowance all around the shirt collar.

 Step 5: This is now the tricky bit- sewing the cut out fabric on to the collar. You can use a sewing machine but like for most of us, it takes less experience to sew it on by hand. Since you have a good amount of seam allowance you can fold the fabric over at the edges which will avoid that the fabric edges are going to fray while wearing and washing the shirt.. Below you can see the half stitched- on collar.

Step 6: After you finished the sewing, you can iron and  press the collar carefully with a low temperated iron and a bit of steam.  Below again you can see the finished shirt worn with a cream coloured, mohair jumper with by H&M's TREND LABEL.

I hope this exercise has not been too difficult to follow and do it yourself. I think just that we should be more aware about the waste we are producing and 'every little helps' to rescue our planet which is being destroyed by a society which throws away everything without a blink of the eye even if the goods are not broken. I hope you will enjoy it and as a last little advice invite a friend ( nothing against our sex but a female friend who can sew will help a lot) and do it together which is really fun than. 

Love and good luck - The Fashion Philosopher 

P.S. Before I forget it since the shirt is cotton and the collar brocade silk in this exercise you might wonder how to wash it. I have never brought my silk clothes to a dry cleaner. Always wash your silks, cashmeres and wools with a decent amount of shampoo (yes, shampoo, a mild product with e.g. chamomile it good enough) and the cold hand wash level is switched on your washing machine. I have had never any problems with shrinkage but again it is important that the water temperature is cold and the washing machine is on hand washing mode.