A21 SEWING COLLAR

Take the two pieces of collar you cut out. Your interfacing or stiff piece of fabric you cut out with your collar pattern. Last, the gathered piece you just made.
You are going to layer the pieces now. First collar piece, right side up. Then the ruffle you just did. Pin the pieces together.
I like to push of the ruffle toward the middle and pin it. That way it won't get caught when I sew it.
Then you are going to place the second collar piece. (The other red piece. (Not pictured.) Then you are going to place your interfacing piece on top of that.
Then you are going to sew. Leave the bottom open. Sew along the sides and the top. Sew slowly. There will be a lot of pins in this piece and you don't want to break your needle. Then remove your pins.
This is how it will look. Remove the rest of the pins. Turn the sides out.
Then iron.Press the ruffle out from the collar. If you want a really polished end product then press neatly.
Watch as you press. Notice if there are any spots where your machine didn't catch the ruffle. If you made a mistake like me then turn the sides back and run your machine over the area you missed. It should be fairly easy to fix at this stage. You don't want to sew your collar to your shirt an then notice. There will be a lot of seam ripping involved and you will want to throw this project away before you finish it. It is easy to just double check now.
The basting stich you used to gather the ruffle on the collar will still be there and may show. You can just gently remove this basting stich with your seam ripper.
There you are all finished attaching your ruffle to your collar and sewing your collar together.

A22 ATTACHING COLLAR TO SHIRT

Pin the collar to the shirt. You will want to allign the edge of the collar with the edge of the shirt perfectly. Then pin it in place. You will want to pin only the interfacing and bottom collar piece to the shirt. Leave the top collar piece loose.
I usually pin the the edge of the collar to edge of the shirt on the right and left side. Then choose the center of your collar and the center of your shirt and place a pin there. Then fill the pins in the middle. Easy.
Then sew. If you want to use a basting stitch (the largest stich length) then do. It will be easy to pull out if you mess and don't allign the collar piece right. If you want to just go for it then you are probably more like me. Good luck.
When you are done sewing and everything looks great. Roll the seam up toward the collar not down toward the shirt. Press.
I hope this makes sense. You have two pictures. Just point the seam you just sewed up and press.
Then roll the top collar piece down. Fold it under a smidge and pin. Make sure your fold line is below your last stich line. Double, double make sure.
Continue this processes along the entire length of the collar.
Then flip your shirt over and stitch in the ditch. For a tutorial on how to stich in the ditch click here. (If you don't have the foot she uses, don't worry I use my regular foot as you can see. If you do have the foot she uses, good then you finally know what to do with that foot.)(Also, stiching in the ditch is only one method you can use. You could just hand stich this in place, if you want to take the time. I stich in the ditch because it is fast.)
When you flip your shirt over you will be able to see the shirt on the inside of the collar. Make sure you caught the top collar piece that you folded under along the entire collar of the shirt.
When you turn the shirt over to the front side you won't even notice you sewed anything.
There you are. Your collar is done. Doesn't it look great?

A23 PUFF SLEEVE

Now let's tackle those sleeves.
We are going to take the side we did not cut diagonally. The side we cut off straight. We are going to fold it down approximately half and inch. Press down.
Then fold it again another half and inch. Press down. You will fold and fold, kind of like rolling up the sleeves. You know you did it in the eighties. You know you did. Well, this is just backwards from that.
Then press again. Make sure your sleeve is not inside out. Make sure it is inside right. It should be fine if your children haven't played with it since you cut it out.
Then sew a straight line along the edge of the sleeve to secure the hem. I sewed at a 3/8" seam allowance. You are sewing in a circle. When you come back around to where you started be sure to back stitch. Then clip your threads tight.Do this to both of your sleeves.
There you have it. Both of your sleeves are hemmed.
Now we are going to use elastic thread to pull the hem in tight against our arm. Elastic thread can be found at any sewing store. It should be found on the same isle as the other elastic. It will look like this.
You will take the end of your elastic thread and wind it around your bobbin by hand. You will not want to wind it by machine, it will not work. You will want to wind it loosely but tightly. Tight enough that the are no loose pieces of elastic thread bunching up. Loose enough that you aren't stretching the elastic as you wind. Click here for a rocking song and a video I found on YouTube that may help.
Thread your machine with regular thread. Then place your wounded elastic thread bobbin in its case. Increase your stitch length to a 3.5 at least. Then sew.
It really doesn't matter how you do this. This is how I do it. I start a little away from my hem stitch line using it as my guide to sew along the edge of the sleeve.
When I reach my starting point I sew over the starting stitches by two or three. Then I lift my pressure foot and shift the sleeve over until the edge of my pressure foot is touching the line I just finished.
I continue going around the sleeve in this manner until I have completed three rows of stitching. When I finish my third row I back stitch and then lift my pressure foot and pull the sewn sleeve away from the threads. I make sure I leave some elastic thread. Don't clip your threads tight.
Then I tie my starting elastic thread and my ending elastic thread in a square knot. This will ensure you elastic thread will not come loose and start unwinding. This is what the under side of your shirt will look like.
This what the right side of your sleeve will look like.

Do this to both sleeves.

A24 SEWING SLEEVES TO SHIRT

Lay your sleeve so the seam is in the center then measure out about 2 1/2" from the center seam. Then place a pin at each of these points.
We are going to sew a basting line between these two pins. Increase your seam allowance as high as it will go. Mine goes up to a 4.
Then sew between your two pins.
It should look like this.
Lift one of your upper threads and pull gently. Your stitch should gather. Pull your threads until your seam is gathered tightly.
It should look like this.
Find the shoulder seam of your shirt and align it with the center of your gathered sleeve. You can bearly make out my thumb but it is under the shoulder seam. You can bearly make out my fingers but they are inside the sleeve. I am going to pinch these two pieces together lining up the raw edge of the sleeve and the raw edge of the arm hole on my shirt.
It will look like this. This will ensure right sides are together. Try to line up the side seam of your shirt with the sew lines on the sleeve. This will make your sewing look professional. Also, if the sleeve isn't quite fitting, we want an exact fit, then pull on your gather threads and gather it a little tighter or loosen the gather threads. Make sure the sleeve fits the arm hole perfectly. Then you are going to pin these two pieces together.
You will be sewing in a circle again. When you come to your starting stitch keep running over it until you have sewn over at least three stitches. Then clip your threads.
It should look like this. This is the arm hole and the sleeve sewn together.
Notice the seam on the sleeve and the side seam of the shirt are lined up.
Then serge off your raw edge. You can also use other methods previously discussed.
There you are. You now have a shirt with sleeves.

A25 HEMMING THE BOTTOM OF YOUR SHIRT

Now you need to finish the bottom of your shirt. You are just going to hem it. First finish the raw edge. You can use your serger or other methods we have previously discussed.
Done.
Now bearly roll the hem line up. Press in place.
Sew a regular stitch along the bottom of your shirt. Make sure you catch the entire length of the fold.
It will look like this when you are finished.
Press. If you have any questions, leave a comment.