DIY || Crochet Collar

Hello you beautiful humans, I hope you're all getting excited for 2015, I know I am!

Anyway, I am always on the lookout for new and different ways to alter my clothes, so when I came across a pattern to make a crochet collar I knew I had to give it a go! If you dare climb into the attic of my blog and brush aside the cobwebs you'll find this post that I made way back in July 2013 when I first got this dress, I altered it a bit then and I've done a bit more now, it's just the dress that keeps on changing!

Making the collar is actually surprisingly simple! The only crochet stitches you need to know are chain, half double crochet (hdc) and double crochet (dc). There's plenty of tutorials online that'll help you out if you need it! I actually used cooking twine for my collar, you can use wool of course but I'm not too sure how well that would hold up to constant washing!

What to do:

1. Create a chain as long as you want one side of your collar to be (you make two separate pieces to create the whole collar). Mine was 40 chain on a 3.5mm hook and it reaches from the middle of my dress to just over my shoulder. Once you've got the right length do 2 extra chain stitches so you have space to turn.

2. Create a half double crochet stitch in the third chain from your hook and then continue to do hdc stitches in each chain stitch until you reach the end.

3. When you get to the end chain 3 and turn, then skip the first stitch.

4. Dc, chain 2, dc in the next stitch along (this creates the "V" shape that you see in the top middle photo down below)

5. Double crochet in the next stitch.

6. Repeat this pattern all the way to the end of your work (dc,chain2,dc in one stitch and then dc in the next one)

6. Chain 3 once you get to the end and turn

7. Instead of one dc for each side of the V shape this time you are going to do two, so dc 2, chain 2, dc 2 in one stitch and dc in the next (the dc that you do on its own should sit directly on top of the single dc from the previous row)

8. Once again continue this pattern down your work (dc 2, chain 2, dc 2 in one stitch and dc in the next one)

9. Chain 3 once you get to the end and turn

10. We're now going to do the exact same thing as step 7&8, except now doing 3 double crochets to make each V shape (the single double crochet in the stitch after it stays the same)

11. Chain 3 when you get to the end and turn

12. Now for the last row we are going to do 6dc in each V shape from the previous row, and a single dc once again in the stitch after it. So the pattern for the final row is 6dc in one stitch, dc in the next

13. Continue this all the way to the end of your row and you're finished, now repeat the steps again to make the other side!

This collar is actually surprisingly quick to make, yet it looks so intricate! I'm definitely going to be keeping my eyes peeled for more dresses and shirts to put collars on now! When both sides were finished I hand-sewed them to the front of my dress and added a bow to fill the space in between them. I thought it was relevant that the ribbon says "Bon Voyage" because it matches the hot air balloon/travelling theme.

What do you think? Are you a collar kind of person? I know I am!

x Erin