Leather Dickie DIY (Fake Shirt W Collar)

A dickie isn't something we see every day and I've never owned one. In case you're saying, "A say-wha?!", it's a fake shirt collar or turtleneck made for layering. I've never understood the appeal... until now! I'm loving the leather shirts I've seen on the runways but they are very expensive - even some of the faux leather shirts.

Plus, I can imagine that a full leather shirt would be hot even in the winter under a sweater so a dickie gives me best of both worlds! It will keep my neck warm without overheating the rest of me and will up the cool factor to any sweater.

You utilize less leather than an entire shirt so you are saving the earth. AND not only that, but in this project, I used the rest of a half cut-up jacket from my Malachite Bucket Bag project - see below - (and another beyond that) so it is also a sustainability move! Nothing feels better than to repurpose a leather piece that is worn out in certain areas and might have been tossed.

https://www.instructables.com/Malachite-Bucket-Bag-W-Upcycled-Leather-Suede/

The leather dickie is clearly a project that appeals to the masculine or feminine side!

Read all the way to the end for a brilliant hack on this idea!

Supplies

Leather sewing machine needle

Nylon thread (made for leather)

Leather (ie. old jacket or pants/skirt)

Fabric for lining (~1/4 yd)

Paper pattern of jacket, coat, or shirt of which you like the shape of the collar

Sewing machine

Quilter's clips (in place of pins)

1 or 2 buttons (or snap or hook or velcro- what ever kind of closure you'd like)

Ribbon or 1/4" elastic (optional)

Step 1: Select Pattern and Prepare Pattern Pieces

If you are an experienced sewist of any kind, most likely you have a pattern on hand that you can use for this project. I used a jacket pattern (Butterick B5535) that I've had for years but never actually used so I was glad to finally get some use out of it. Make sure it looks like the kind of jacket that could double as a shirt (not a wide-lapel style).

The great thing about cutting out this pattern is that you won't need all the pieces. Forget the sleeves and also shorten the bodice pieces. I made mine long enough to stay tucked into a sweater but not so long that I would need a lot of leather.

I also did not use any interfacing as my leather had a lot of good body to it. I didn't want it any thicker for a shirt collar.

Cut out all your pattern pieces. In my case there were 7 pieces: under collar, over collar, bodice side front, bodice back, front facing, front lining, and back lining. Shorten the bodice front and back and lining patterns to above or below the breastline - your choice. I chose above.

Make sure as you cut your pattern piece shorter than a jacket or shirt, that you label the pattern piece number left behind. This is so that you can put the pieces back together if you ever want to make a full jacket/shirt.

Once you have your pattern paper pieces cut out, iron them with low heat. The wrinkles in patterns from the envelope can change the fit or precision of piecing together.

Step 2: Cut Out Your Leather

Step one and two are most time-consuming parts. These 2 steps took me about 3 hours. It sounds crazy but it's true... and I may have been interrupted a couple times! But the great thing about cutting out the leather is that you can cut it any which way as there is no weave/grain to it in the same way there is for fabric. So fit those pattern pieces in a way that utilizes your leather. The first two pieces I cut on the nicest pieces of leather. These were the front and back pieces to the collar. All the other pieces could be pieced if needed.

Also, it may be obvious but you can't use pins on leather so I just held my pieces tightly and kept checking for slippage. You can also use pattern weights to hold your pieces in place.

Step 3: Sew Your Leather Pieces

I would recommend following the directions to your pattern, skipping the parts that aren't applicable to your dickie - like sleeves and interfacing. Mine started with sewing the front and back bodice pieces at the shoulder seams. Then came sewing the under collar piece to the bodice. Next was sewing the lining piece to the facing. The facing is the piece that shows from the inside if your collar isn't buttoned all the way up. Then I attached over collar to under collar, and front facing with lining to front bodice sides. Finally, the back lining was sewn to the over collar to finish the inside. If this doesn't make sense right now, it's really ok. Your pattern will have pictures and step-by-step instructions.

Here are some really important details in sewing with leather:

• You want to make sure you use a leather needle for your machine (or test a piece of leather with whatever heavy duty kind of needle you have).

• Set your machine on a longer stitch length than regular sewing. I set mine on 3 (instead of the standard 2). This is so that you don't perforate/tear your leather with lots of little tight stitches.

• You will need a more heavy-duty thread than usual (you can google this). Mine was a nylon thread.

• And you will also need a walking foot or a leather foot so the leather doesn't "stick" to your machine.

Also, with leather, your seams will be bulky so you'll need to cut a lot of the bulk of seam allowances away after sewing each seam, being careful not to cut your stitching. The corners of the collar are especially important to cut away.

For a professional finish, I pressed my collar on the under side with an iron set on the lowest (synthetic) setting. You could topstitch the edge of your collar but I was afraid that if any of the stitches were the least bit wonky, it would ruin my collar. There's no seam ripping on the top side as the needle will leave permanent holes so I played it safe.

Step 4: Finishing

I zig-zag stitched around the raw edges to finish them off. I didn't want the bulk of hems under a sweater. You could also serge the edges for a really clean look. But, hey, these edges wont show and leather won't unravel!

And the last step (not shown) is to install a buttonhole or two and buttons - or velcro closure at the bottom front where it won't show. This is to keep your leather from shifting around when you wear it.

An optional step (that I will definitely do) in order make your dickie extra stable (no shifting around) when wearing is to sew ribbon to front and back sides in order to tie the ribbon under the arms. Another idea is sewing an elastic band under the arm if your front and back pieces are under the chestline rather than above. Or even better yet, loop 1/4" elastic from front to back under the arms - no ribbon coming untied!

Step 5: Elevate Your Sweaters!

Elevate your favorite sweaters to the next level with your new leather dickie!

Vote for this in the Leather contest! You're the BEST.

You were wondering about that hack? Thrift a leather jacket with a collar still intact and cut it into a dickie. If it has a zipper closure: seam rip it out and re-sew it without the zipper. Then follow my finishing step. Voila! Possibly much easier. :) It definitely has to be just the right kind of collar that could double as a shirt. Let me know if you try it out!