How to Repair a Frayed Shirt Collar

My husband is arguably even cheaper more frugal than I am.  Plus he gets attached to his clothes.  Take this favorite shirt, for example.  He brought this to me a couple of weeks ago.

“Can you fix this?  It’s a perfectly good shirt,” he tells me.

Except for the collar, honey.  The collar is falling apart.  It looks like time for a new shirt.

“It’s just frayed a little.”  Then comes the best part.  “The underside of the collar is like new.  Couldn’t you just switch it around?”

Do you think I work magic here?  Well, apparently he does think that, and honestly flipping the collar over was a great idea to repair the frayed shirt collar.  So I took the project on and, just for you, I’ve got the whole thing documented so that you can fix a frayed collar and keep a favorite shirt around just a little longer.

I went into a lot of detail with the photos, but don’t get overwhelmed.  The gist of the project is:  Take the collar off, flip it over, sew it back on.  Easy enough, right?

Here’s what you’ll need:

• A button up shirt with a frayed collar that is worth saving.  Really, if the elbows are worn thin or the sleeve cuffs are fraying in addition to the collar problem, it’s probably best to try to save a different shirt.
• Advanced beginner sewing skills.  This isn’t a super difficult project, but it’s not sewing a pillowcase either.
• The following sewing supplies:  Good seam ripper, pins, light weight iron-on interfacing (I used knit interfacing), sewing machine with thread to match the shirt, hand sewing needle

Remove the collar from the neck band of the shirt

Step 1.  Find the top stitching that is holding the collar to the neck band and use the seam ripper to remove it.

Step 2.  You may have noticed the collar did not come off the neck band yet.  There is another row of stitching holding it on.  Find that stitching by using tension to spread the collar and neck band away from each other, exposing the threads holding them together.  Use your seam ripper to pick out this seam and remove the collar from the neck band.  Mark the neck band at each side where the collar attaches so you know right where to put it back in at.

Stop the fraying on what will now be on the underside of the collar

Steps 3 through 5 are totally optional, but they’ll make the collar last a little longer, especially if there is some intense fraying going on!

Step 3.  Cut pieces of interfacing to cover the fraying sections of collar.  Even though the fraying will be on the underside, it will continue to fray in the wash, so to keep it together as best we can, we’re going to cover each frayed area with fusible interfacing.  You do not want this stiff, so use very light weight interfacing–mine is knit interfacing.  If the interfacing pieces are too close to the front edge, they could be seen after the collar is turned over.  Keep them back from the front edge as much as possible.  DO extend the interfacing pieces to the bottom raw edge so they’ll get caught in the new seam when you reattach the collar.

Frayed area

Step 4.  Iron the interfacing pieces over the frayed sections of collar to secure them to the collar.  The interfacing has a shiny side–that is the side you want facing the fabric when you iron it, otherwise it will just stick itself to the iron and make a mess.

Step 5.  Stitch around the interfacing edges.  This is optional, but iron on interfacing does eventually come loose through repeated washings, so I hand sewed a quick running stitch around the three edges that won’t be stitched in with the collar.  Just sew through the one layer of collar so the stitching doesn’t show on the good side that will be the new top.

Re-attach the collar

Step 6.  Sew the collar to the inside of the neck band.  Separate the two pieces of neck band, and un-fold the inside piece.  Use the marks you made at the end of step 2 to line up the collar, OR find the center of the collar and the center of the neckband by folding them in half and match the two center lines together when you pin the collar back in.

Pin the collar to the INSIDE half of the neck band so that the NEW RIGHT SIDE of the collar is facing the right side of inside half of the neck band.  If that side included the interfacing (white inside layer of fabric), you can see right where to stitch them together.  Use the center stitching line as your guide.  You want to stitch where the collar was attached with the seam we ripped out in step 2.

Pin good side of collar to right side of inside of opened neckband

Step 7.  Fold the collar up, tucking the bottom raw edge into the space between the neck band pieces.  Pin the outer neck band piece to the collar, keeping the fold that is already in it.  Match the folded edge to the seam you just made in step 6.  You won’t see this seam when you’re finished as it will be on the under side of the collar.

Fold the collar up, tucking the raw edge into the neck band

Step 8.  Top stitch across the neck band to secure the collar in place.

Make it pretty

Step 9.  Once the collar is attached, iron it.  It is folding a whole new direction than it has ever done before.  If the collar has a particularly stubborn fold the old direction, use a spray of 1 part white vinegar to 3 parts water on the fabric and iron the new fold into the collar.

That’s it.  Happy husband reunited with a favorite shirt!  Totally cheap.

Here’s an image for pinterest!

Keep preparing! Angela

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