How to Make and Install a Neck Facing

Baroness Lote Winterborn

July 2016
Ideally you can create your neck facing from your pattern. But sometimes we change the neckline during
the fitting process. This is a step by step guide of how to create a neck facing after your garment has
been sewn together. This example is done on a cotehardie
1. Lay your garment wrong-side out with the back neck lying flat onto either pattern paper or the
fabric you will be using for your neck facing. In this instance I am using gold linen to face the
neck.
Pin at the center back and shoulder seams. Sometimes the shoulder seams are a bit forward or
back from when we lay the garment out flat. On the garment the shoulder seams are toward the
back. I have folded the fabric on the seam itself and pinned it to hold it flat.

2. With a pen or marker draw along the back neck curve along the edge of your fabric. This line will
represent your seam allowance line. It is helpful to make a dot or a line to indicate where the
center back of your garment is on your piece.
Then mark where your shoulder seam is at. In this instance the line will be your stitch line

3. You may now pick up your garment and set it aside.

Remember how we marked the stitch line of the shoulder seam. Now measure out from that
line (or or 3/8. Which ever you like to use for your seam allowance. IF you sew with the
fabric on the edge of the presser foor then you are using a Seam Allownce) and make another
line indicating your seam allowance.
In the picture: The line that the pen is pointing to is the stitch line from step 2. The line above it
is the seam allowance that I just drew for step 3

4. From the back neck curve: measure down 2 and mark a line all the way along the curve. From
shoulder line to shoulderline.

5. Cut out the piece and your back neck facing is complete. Set aside.

6. For the front neck facing: Fold your garment in half at the Center front and pin the shoulder
seams together.

7. Take your lining fabric and make a fold. Make sure that your fabric is as wide as the neckline
before you fold it.

8. Carefully line up the Center front with the fold of the lining fabric. If your garment has a center
front seam as the one used in the example make sure that you are lining up the center front
stitch line. If you just line it up with the edge of the fabric then your facing will be too big. Pin in
place.
Pin down the rest of your front neckline making sure it is flat against the facing fabric.

9. As with the back neck, you will now trace the edge of the fabric around the front neck giving you
a seam allowance line.
Tracing the Stitch line for the shoulder seam is a bit tricky on this one. You will need to lift up or
fold over your garment to figure out where it is. It will still work if the line is not exactly where
the seam is but it needs to be close.

10. If need be use your ruler to true up your shoulder stitch line and then measure out and draw
a line for seam allowance.

11. Measure down 2 from the neck line and make a line

12. Cut out the piece.

13. You should now have front and back neck facing pieces.

Pin then together at the shoulder seams.

14. Sew the shoulder seams together and press the seams open.

15. Serge or Sew around the larger edge of your neck facing.

16. Run a line of stitching around the smaller edge of your facing. This is called stay stitching and will
prevent the neckline from stretching as you pin and sew it in.

17. It is now time to pin the neck facing onto the dress. With right side together start with the
Center Back, Center Front, and line up the shoulder seams. You can then pin in between.

18. Now sew in the facing. You want to line the edge of your seam allowance up with the edge of
your presser foot in order to get a Seam allowance.

19. Press the neck facing so that the seam allowance folds up and away from the garment. If you
have an ironing ham, now would be a good time to use it.

20. You are now going to under stitch the

neckline. This will help to keep the fold flat.
To achieve this you are going to stitch the
seam allowance to the facing.
Put your neck into the machine and line your
needle up 1/8 onto the facing fabric and
stitch around the neck hole.

21. Trim out the extra seam allowance and press the neck facing into the neckline.

22. Your neck facing should now be laying nicely in your garment. All that is left to do is stitch the
facing down so that it does not want to come up out of the garment. Depending on the fabric
you can wither whip stitch it by hand, straight stitch it, or tack it at the seams.