increasing a shirt collar size?

[esteban68]

I thought I'd post this on here as there seems to be more interest in this type of thing....I've recently been lucky enough to find a detachable collar shirt complete with two collars still in it's cellophane.....only problem is that is a16" collar and I generally take a16'5"-17"....it fastens but only just and is too tight.
Given that there's loads of spare cloth as its a typically long almost to my knees shirt do we think it's possible to make a new collar band and increase it up to around 16.5"?

 

[LuvMyMan]

I thought I'd post this on here as there seems to be more interest in this type of thing....I've recently been lucky enough to find a detachable collar shirt complete with two collars still in it's cellophane.....only problem is that is a16" collar and I generally take a16'5"-17"....it fastens but only just and is too tight.
Given that there's loads of spare cloth as its a typically long almost to my knees shirt do we think it's possible to make a new collar band and increase it up to around 16.5"?

NO expert here, but I do think someone can do something as what you are thinking of doing. It is an interesting topic as at times some shirts may shrink from being washed, or a person gains a bit of weight and then something just no longer fits in the collar area. My Husband has some super expensive dress shirts that are now too small from the collar now being too tight. They do not have detachable collars, but I think the problem is similar overall. I think your "fix" would be a bit different that to try to fix an normal collar making it a size bigger. One thing we do with a collar is to stretch it when it is wet and do that a few times until the shirt and collar are totally dry. You can only get a tid bit of more neck space doing that, but at times it can make the difference of being able to button the top button or not!

Your detachable having a larger size all together, what is it you need to make larger for it to work? The area of the shirt which would be directly under the collar and that part of the upper shirt itself? I can think maybe (just maybe) directly in the very back of that area, a small slit in the material could be made with a "gusset" added to that same place like a flap, and to simple add more material to extend that by what you need, and then sew the flap over the extended part so it looks like it belongs there to hide the fact you added more material there. Perhaps other people could give you some suggestive help.

 

[esteban68]

It's taken me an age to find a NOS shirt that almost fits and this one does save the collar which is almost there but not quite!
I think to do it justice a complete like for like but bigger collar band replacement is what I am looking for and just hope it's possible, here's a few pics;

and one of the two collars;

I am unsure of age but it doesn't have cufflink cuffs and does have only a half plaquet front which makes me think wartime manufacture though it's not marked CC41 anywhere, workmanship is oustanding for what I guess is a 'workshirt'.

 

[Nick D]

Probably '50s, looks like a regular white shirt more than a work shirt (depending on how we're defining that). You might be able to have the buttonholes lengthened a bit on the neck band so it fits better, and you could have a new collar made from the shirt tails, though collars are common enough you could get more in your size. If you'd rather have the shirt's band replaced, you could do that with the tails but since it's meant to never be seen a plain white cotton would do.

 

[esteban68]

I think that's what I'll do Nick at 5'7" the tails are WAAAAAY too long, so the intention now is to shorten the tails but still leaving them longer than modern, and as you say get a new collar band made from the tails, cloth is a medium to heavy cotton? so should wear well.
Sad to say there's not enough room to extend the button holes as I am generally a 16.5 -17" rather than a 16-16.5", I've plenty of collars and it's interesting to see the different actual lengths on collars that are nominally the same size, some of the collars are like little works of art in themselves!

 

[LuvMyMan]

That is a nice NOS shirt. Certainly worth finding a fix for it to fit you better. My Husband has gained some weight and now his neck size is also more between a 16 1/2 to 17. But the 17 is just too big. I just purchased a treadmill to help with the extra weight and he does not mind at all using it.

 

[esteban68]

That's the trouble with the older shirts that when you get the right collar size if you can find one that is then the chest on the shirt will be huge....this one is around 44" a modern 16" collar is around 40"!