Could any sewists advise me please?

[poppym12]

I was going to put 'sewers' but that reads as a waste drainage system and I would like some advice on sewing if possible.

I have a tshirt dress that I really like apart from the neck. It's crew neck and I can't stand the strangly neck feeling. I'd like to make it into a bigger neck hole but I'm not sure if it's possible? It's 95% viscose, 5% elastase. There is an ordinary tshirt type cuff around the neck which would obviously have to go but is there a way of cutting this off and making the neckline look presentable (and not fray?).

Great to see a sewing question on the board So much knitting/crochet lately.

The t-shirt band will be over locked or cover stitched onto the dress. I would carefully unpick this stitching. The band will be smaller than the neck hole to ensure a flat finish to your body. You maybe surprised how big the neck edge is once the band is off so this is why I say unpick don't just cut it off.

Then what to do with the now raw edge? Depends on how stable the jersey knit is. It could run into ladders after a few wears or the edge might roll over. Neither will look good. I would put a new band on the dress. If the dress is a bit long take a piece off the hem or recycle a t shirt. Cut a strip of fabric slightly shorter than neck edge in length ; width should be required depth of band plus seam allowance doubled. Stitch strip in a loop and fold wrong sides together. Medium zig zag raw edges together. Divide loop into 4, place a pin at each quarter. Divide neck edge into 4 and place pins. Sew band to dress matching pins and stretching band to fit.

If you don't have an over locker machine use 2 rows of zig zag .

Great post fortified. I'd add that the reason the length of the new neckband should be slightly shorter than the opening is because you need to stretch the new band slightly when you attach it. This will make it lie taut and flat when you wear it. If not stretched it could just bag over.

Thank you so much, this is really helpful. I've done some sewing before but I think this is too advanced for me . If the fabric was ordinary tshirt material I'd have a do but it's mainly viscose which seems more delicate (and difficult!).

I recently had a go sewing with a viscose knit and I leant the following the hard way. Try and get a ball point needle for your machine other wise it might snag the material and/or skip stitches. My machine also decided to 'eat ' the fabric - I eventually solved this by putting tissue paper underneath the material so stitching through this and the material. ( particularly staring off ). You then rip off the tissue when you have finished sewing. ( I used a regular machine; I don't have an over locker - maybe these issues don 't occur on an overlocker ). I used a small zig zag stitch or a 3 step zig zag ( your instruction book should guide you ) as you need a stitch with some give in it or the stitches will rip as the fabric stretches. Good luck !

seamstresses

That's the word! Really couldn't think of the correct term yesterday.
I think I'll either send the dress back, even though the neck is otherwise perfect, or try to get used to the strangly feeling.