Sew a neckline facing with a beautiful finish
Hey y’all, today we’re talking about how to sew a neckline and finish it off with a neck facing. I decided to do this tutorial now because of the neck facing on my new pattern, the Esma Top (pictured above and below). A facing is a strip of fabric that is sewn to a raw edge so that it can be turned to the inside of a garment in order to finish the edge. It may or may not be topstitched (the ones pictured above and below here are topstitched).
I made a video of how I sewed these facings, which you can watch below or on YouTube here.
How to Sew a Neckline:
- Start by applying fusible interfacing to the facing pieces. Sew the front and back facing together at the shoulder seams.
- Finish the raw outer edges of the facing. In the video I do this basting, turning on the basting line, and pressing. You could hem this edge, or you could also finish with an overlock or faux overlock (more below).
- Stay stitch the neckline. This means to stitch within the seam allowance of the neckline using a regular straight stitch. This prevents the neckline from stretching. Direction is important here, you want to stitch in mirrored directions so that the two sides will match.
- Place facing right sides together with neckline and stitch together.
- Clip and notch neckline.
- Press seam allowances toward facing and understitch by sewing the seam allowances to the facing, about 1/8″ away from the original stitching line.
- Press facing to the inside of the garment. You can topstitch if desired, and topstitching can go either at the outer edge of the facing as I did or very close to the neck edge (example below).
Below you can see the inside of the garment with the facing stitched down on the outer edge.
Above you can see a Shoreline Boatneck which I finished with an overlock stitch on the edge of the facing and topstitched close to the neckline. I also tacked this facing to the shoulder seams to help keep it from rolling out.
Diane
You look absolutely stunning – great fabric choice and I greatly appreciate the V-neck sewing tutorial.
My weekend sewing is mapped out ahead for me!
Thank you
LucyLiu
Thanks for this tutorial! My V necklines always end up a bit off centre, and now I know why! I have been following your blog for a while and I have learnt so much from your videos. Thank you for the effort you put into each one. It is very much appreciated!
Lisa
Thank you for this tutorial! Sometimes this type of neckline finish doesn’t lay flat on my chest. Steam ironing seems to help, but not always. Any advice?
Tanya
Thank you so much for posting this. I have been struggling to make clean necklines and this will help a lot.
Cassie @ Looks Good to Us
I really appreciate your clearness in explaining how to make a neckline! I had no idea when I first started researching to make my own dresses. I recently used your tutorial to create my own bodice for a dress, using an old re-purposed skirt for the bottom.
Rosie
Thank you so much for showing us how to do neckline facing. I’ve been trying for a while now & can never get my neckline right. I’m hoping this’ll work for me. Thanks again .