The London Lounge

My dear gents,

Being as I am isolated in a relative sartorial backwater, with but the one bespoke suitmaker (who cuts a sack-like style which I do not like), and no shirtmakers at all, I am generally at a loss when it comes to bespoke, and settle for the best RTW I can manage to get, and the odd MTM piece.

Always looking to improve the quality of my wardrobe, however, I thought I would embark upon a project to personalise and otherwise "upgrade" my existing shirt collection. To wit, I am having all the backs re-darted to most exactly represent my present figure, and the sleeves likewise perfected.

My next step is to replace all buttons with mother-of-pearl, of the double-thick variety which I prefer. I wonder, can any online or post suppliers of same be recommended? Thus far I have found the following, which appears to sell nice buttons at good prices in bulk:

http://www.hst.com.sg/acatalog/Mother_O ... ttons.html

Finally, I plan to replace some of the collars which are either getting on a bit, or were never that nice in the first place, with white ones. Here's where it gets interesting. I am wondering whether I can have the collars removed, but the neckband left in place, and attach a detachable white collar from, eg, New and Lingwood? This would give the option of both different shapes, and of attaching a wing collar for court use. Obviously a stud would be needed at the back.

Here I betray my ignorance - is there a fundemental difference in construction between a neckband shirt and the neckband of a normal shirt? Also, are there any good sources for white french cuffs to have attached? In any event, I hope my tailor is competant enough to be able to make these from scratch.

I would be grateful for any feedback on these last points in particular, or the Project in general. As a symbolic first step, I've taken some small scissors and removed the labels from the inside of my shirts, to show that they are now *mine*, and the manufacturer's intentions are no longer important!

All the best,

Eden

The collars could be recut for stiff collars if you have some of the shirt's fabric left. Otherwise you would have to do a lot of unstitching! There is a "pocket" at the back to take the stud, which needs to be added.

But please be careful. A stiff collar requires a professional laundry. The only ones I know are in London. One collar costs about two punds to launder. Add postage etc, and this is expensive. New stiff collars cost anywhere between seven and ten pounds. An expensive hobby, wearing these.

I asked my alteration tailor about doing the same. He also said no because the height of the neckband on a tunic shirt is lower than that on a collar attached shirt. So it would be more complicated than just removing the turn down collar and cutting holes for the collar studs.

Leon

Leon wrote:I asked my alteration tailor about doing the same. He also said no because the height of the neckband on a tunic shirt is lower than that on a collar attached shirt. So it would be more complicated than just removing the turn down collar and cutting holes for the collar studs.

Leon

That is quite so - being of a mean persuasion I asked my mother to do this to one of my old shirts which was hopelessly worn at the collar and it became apparent that this was the case when it came back. I am sure that it could be done, but at greater complication and therefore expense.

Anthony.

AnthonyJordan wrote:

Leon wrote:I asked my alteration tailor about doing the same. He also said no because the height of the neckband on a tunic shirt is lower than that on a collar attached shirt. So it would be more complicated than just removing the turn down collar and cutting holes for the collar studs.

Leon

That is quite so - being of a mean persuasion I asked my mother to do this to one of my old shirts which was hopelessly worn at the collar and it became apparent that this was the case when it came back. I am sure that it could be done, but at greater complication and therefore expense.

Anthony.

Would this not merely make the collar sit quite high, which looks rather effective with certain collar types? I'm thinking the quite old-fashioned rounded-point sort with very little tie space in front...

BirdofSydney wrote:

AnthonyJordan wrote:

Leon wrote:I asked my alteration tailor about doing the same. He also said no because the height of the neckband on a tunic shirt is lower than that on a collar attached shirt. So it would be more complicated than just removing the turn down collar and cutting holes for the collar studs.

Leon

That is quite so - being of a mean persuasion I asked my mother to do this to one of my old shirts which was hopelessly worn at the collar and it became apparent that this was the case when it came back. I am sure that it could be done, but at greater complication and therefore expense.

Anthony.

Would this not merely make the collar sit quite high, which looks rather effective with certain collar types? I'm thinking the quite old-fashioned rounded-point sort with very little tie space in front...

Sorry for not replying more promptly. You might find that you have to wear high collars in order to cover the additional height of neckband, which might cut down on the number of occasions on which you could wear the shirt. Also. the high neckband might not be comfortable beneath a collar - I will try with mine and report back.

Upon reflection, I'm going to take the plunge with one or two, I think. There are some that I don't wear at all at present, and the very worst outcome will simply be that I end up having to wear them with a wing-collar, viz in court, which is more use than they are currently seeing.

In an act of profound "necro-posting", I thought I would resurrect this thread to mention that I found a way of converting collars as BirdofSydney suggests and indeed have my shirts regularly done now when the collars wear out. Here are some examples:













The trick is to get your seamstress or tailor to lower the collar stand by about 1/2" all round, after that having buttonholes machined at the front where the collar used to be and at the centre back of the neckband is a simple matter. Including having the cuffs turned I tend to pay about £12 a shirt.

At that point would not be better ask them ro re-make the collar band as well? I have few tunic shirts + detachable collar and they have a pocket at the back where the stud is inserted to attach the band to the detachable collar. This design protect the back of your collar from touching the stud directly. I find already uncofortable at time wearing the stud in the front touching my skin that I appreciate very much the cover at the back. A competent seamstress could also detach the collar band and create the pocket, although the pocket internal facing will need to be a different fabric, but I found this irrelavent as the detacchable collar will well cover that.

That is quite true and a good suggestion. For me, I have had dress shirts in the past (vintage examples) where the back collar stud rests on the neck so I can't say the feeling bothers me, but others certainly might want to consider it.