Operation Round-Collar

Does anybody else love button-down shirts with a rounded (rather than a more typically angular) collar?

For me that is definitely the case. But of course the problem is, rounded collars are fairly unusual. And finding a shirt with this style of collar in a cut and colour scheme I like is next to impossible.

So I’ve been wondering lately how easy it would be to modify my existing button-down shirts to have rounded collars. On the one hand, it seems as easy as simply chopping off the pointy tip… On the other hand, what about the finishing?

Luckily, I have not one but two neighbours who happen to sew professionally. The consensus was, as I suspected. There is a way to do it to a professional standard, but it is fussy. Or, you can simply chop off the pointy tips and see what happens.

It appears I had been overthinking this for years!

Okay, time for action.

I dug out a well-worn button-down shirt that would not be mourned if things go horribly awry, picked up a sharp pair of scissors, and held the two ends of the collar together - so that the curves would be the same on both sides. And then I simply went ahead and chopped off the pointy tips.

And here is the result!

This look is a lot more ‘me’ than the traditional collar shape, and I cannot believe it took me so long to finally try this!

Now the question is, how to finish it.

One possibility, according to my neighbour, is to simply leave the collar be. It will fray, but ‘artistically’ and will look hip and deliberate.

Personally, I am not so sure about that. And instead, I am considering securing the edge in a way that resembles embroidery. This would involve going around the entire edge of the collar though, not just the bits that are raw edges …so I might end up being too lazy (or busy!) to do it. We shall see.

In the meantime, I am just thoroughly enjoying the rounded look of the collar. This is quite an old shirt that has seen better days, and now it shall enjoy an entire new life.