Two ways to finish a neckline
Cut a hole for the head and you have a raw edge that will curl. There are broadly two ways to deal with it.
The cheap way is to fold the body fabric over on itself and run a single line of stitching through it. It costs almost nothing and uses material already on the table.
The other way is to knit a separate strip of ribbed fabric and set it into the opening. Ribbing is a different structure from the body jersey — it is built to stretch and pull back, the way a cuff does.
Why the folded version gives up
Body jersey has very little recovery. It stretches willingly and returns reluctantly, which is exactly what you want across the chest and exactly what you do not want around an opening you drag over your skull every morning.
So each wear stretches the neckline a little, and each wash relaxes it a little more, and nothing in the construction pulls it back. That is the wave. Once it is there it does not come out.
What to look for before you buy
Turn the shirt inside out and look at the collar itself.
- A separate band. The collar fabric should visibly differ from the body — finer vertical ribs, denser, slightly thicker.
- Two rows of stitching, not one. Twin needle stitching spreads the load and stops the seam rolling to the outside.
- A shoulder-to-shoulder tape. A narrow strip of fabric across the back of the neck, taking the strain off the knit.
- Snap-back. Hook two fingers inside, pull gently, let go. It should settle flat within a second.
What you can do about the ones you own
Not much, honestly — but you can slow it down.
Stop dragging shirts off by the collar; pull them over from the hem instead. Wash cool, and never hang a wet tee from a narrow hanger, because the weight of the water pulls the neckline into a permanent oval. Dry flat if you can.
A collar with real ribbing will forgive most of this. A folded hem will not forgive any of it.
Where Tarsah lands
The Grand Tee uses a ribbed collar, twin-stitched, so it does not roll. That is a slower and more expensive way to finish a neckline, and it is invisible in every photograph of the garment.
It is also the single detail that decides whether a shirt still looks deliberate in year three, which is why we do not skip it.
Check the collar first
Next time you are deciding between two tees at the same price, ignore the front and look inside the neck. It tells you more about the rest of the garment than anything on the hanger.
More on the shapes themselves in our neckline guide.
