How to stretch a dress shirt collar
If your shirt collar is too small you may be wondering about stretching it. Is it even possible to stretch a shirt collar? There are two directions one can take. For shirts made from a stretch material to begin with, the collar may naturally have some wiggle room. This typically involves fabric blends that include spandex rather than natural materials. Since most quality dress shirts are made from natural materials such as cotton and linen the materials itself are not inherently stretchy. Instead, you will need a collar with larger measurements to stretch your collar size.
Many people assume that the shirt collar size on a shirt cannot be changed and that once you outgrow your shirt collar size you either need a new shirt or cannot button the top button which looks unpolished when wearing a tie. This is a perennial pet peeve of shirt collectors. The collar is often the most sensitive part of the shirt to sizing changes and a modest expansion of the neck size can leave you not being able to button the top button. For treasured shirts this can be particularly frustrating since there is nothing else wrong with the shirt.
While many people don’t realize it, it is in fact possible to change your collar size on an existing dress shirt. This is an alteration we specialize in. Because we custom make each collar, we can map them to a shirt’s existing neckline while letting you specify your desired collar size. This is possible because the way collar size is measured is from the middle of the button hole to the button since that is the true neck size allowed when buttoned. In case you haven’t already noticed the button is located at the midpoint of the collar band rather than the base. This means that the shirt’s neckline and the collar size are not the same measurement. The difference in size is usually industry standard. However, since we craft our own collars, we can customize these proportions to design a collar that has been stretched to your desired size while being sewn onto your existing shirt.
This shirt had shrunk and the new collar that was sewn on matches the shirts original collar size rather than the shrunk size. In this view the collar is outstretched so you can see how neatly it maps to the neckline.
Above you see the reverse side of the collar with the under collar and stand. The collar stays are removable. It’s important to note is that the button the new collar is the same button as on the original collar in order to ensure it matches the other buttons on the shirt placket as you can see above where both the shirt collar button and the top button on the placket are visible.
Before: A pink French cuff shirts with a collar and cuffs made from royal pink Oxford fabric. The collar is a bicolor collar in that the collar band is made of white and the collar leaf is made of pink. The collar lacks stays and adequate structure which is why it doesn’t sit well. At 16 inches it is also too small for the collector of the shirt so he wants to stretch the shirt collar size and address poo construction.
After: A pink satin classic collar was sewn on in a larger collar size of 17 inches in order to accommodate the desired neck size. The new collar is made entirely of one fabric and has removable stays. It sits up nicely. The shirt itself makes for a unique tonal look with three slightly different shades of pink across the collar, shirt body and cuffs. There is another layer to the tonal look with the use of different weaves: satin for the collar, plain weave for the shirt body and royal Oxford for the cuffs. As you can see the top button can button neatly.
Before: This is a white tuxedo shirt with a front pleats and round French cuffs. This tuxedo shirt has 16 pleats, eight on each side of the front placket. The collar is evidently worn out at the crease formed between the collar band and collar particularly near the front. The collar is permanently wrinkled detracting from the spotless look required by a black-tie dress code. The collar is 16.5 inches which is too narrow so the client wants to stretch the collar.
After: A new plain weave white classic shirt collar was sewn on replacing the previous wrinkles and stains. The collar size was increased to 17 inches from 16.5 inches. The collar classic style was maintained. Tuxedo shirts tend to be infrequently worn in comparison to office shirts if repaired and taken care of properly can last generations. The top button is buttoned and an elegant tie gap is visible. The beauty if this technique is that it is not visually apparent that this is a larger collar than the original one the shirt was manufactured with.
Before: Blue grid check single button barrel cuff shirt. The lines used for the grid are a medium blue while the background color is a lighter blue. This is a dobby weave shirt with subtle geometric diamond in alternating grid boxes. Worn out cutaway shirt collar. Fraying is visible around the tie space. The wearer has outgrown the shirt’s collar size and so a larger collar needs to sew on in order to stretch their collar size. A broken collar stay was also stuck inside the pocket on the underside of the collar.
After: Converted to a classic collar per client’s instructions. Given the shirt color a knitted solid blue was used for the replacement collar. The knitted fabric matches the shirt’s more casual feel. The color of the collar matches with the blue used for the grid color. This is also larger than the original collar as the size has been stretched by about an inch. New collar stays were inserted into the pockets in the underside of the collar. The collar now holds its form and stands up elegantly.