It doesn't have to be bound. Just a straight strip of fabric joined into a circle, folded in half and stitched to the neck edge, so three raw edges together. Overlock if you wish then topstitch the seam allowance down with a twin needle (or cover stitcher)
The length of the fabric strip should be such that it has to be slightly stretched to fit around the neck.
I don't know why I wasn't thinking of this option. I've certainly done it enough in the past. Been doing too much quilting instead of clothes I guess.
I added the stay-stitching (not a good result on this fabric) and then the strip of knit interfacing, and the end result was very good. My only complaint on finished project was that I only had a wide double-needle which caused more of pin-tuck effect on the neck and hem than I would like. Here's my finished shirt:
The pattern is a shortened dress pattern, and I'd like to go back and make a couple style changes, but I'm happy with the fit from altering a pattern that never did fit correctly.
feather shirt by
CraftymamaMN, on Flickr
And yesterday afternoon I found a cute maxi skirt at a garage sale for 25c that became this shirt. Just barely had enough to fabric to squeeze out the sleeve caps, but I managed it, and even matched the stripes at the side seams. Couldn't manage it at the shoulders though.
SW shirt by
CraftymamaMN, on Flickr