Whilst having my shower I had another thought Sonatine regarding your collar/facing edges. I was taught to press them open after sewing as far as was possible, and then from the right side to roll the edge between your finger and thumb to get the seam right on the edge and then to tack as close to the edge as possible using smallish stitches, then press with wet cloth and hot iron, and now that clappers etc. are more readily available this is where they come in to play. Okay once done you might have a line where the tacking stitches were, but another pressing with damp cloth and hot iron, even steam iron should remove any marks. Once you have tamed the edges, you can then topstitch.
Now from memory I believe Just Pottering bought herself a Clapper earlier this year - by the way they are not cheap but such a useful tool to have in the sewing box. A few years ago a lot of people were buying something called a June Tailor Tailor's Board with or without it's covers, and this tool has a multitude of edges for all sorts of pressing even right into the most awkward part of your sewing. June Tailor passed away a few years ago now and eventually her company stopped doing these Tailor's Boards, however they do come up from time to time on e-bay and the like but they are expensive. Now again from memory I believe Morgan here on TSP had one made for her here in the UK.
Glad you like the rolling pin idea ScoutSews, I was given a Pyrex rolling pin as an engagement present a very long time ago which I still use for pastry making, however I found a couple of rounded end wooden rolling pins in my local charity shop which I think is even better than a wooden rolling pin with handles. Needless to say I keep my wooden rolling pins and wooden mallet here in my sewing room!!! In fact I also use the wooden mallet for hitting the buttonhole chisel when cutting open buttonholes. This mallet has never been used in the kitchen.