Saturday 30 April 2016

Techniques: Sewing a Neckline Placket

photo DIYPlacketCollarShirt4_zpspn3j5rkc.jpg
Not that long ago I showed my favourite method for sewing sleeve plackets and then it occurred to me, the same must apply to sewing a placket collar, everything just needs to be bigger!

Tutorials take a lot of time & effort to create, and I choose to make mine available for free. If you enjoy this guide, you can support me with a donation that feels right for you, here.



I. Here's what you need at the start. Your shirt front piece and two pieces for the placket - they should be as long as you want your placket deep, one piece a couple cm longer than the other. The width should be 2 x desired placket width + 0.5 x desired placket width + 1 x seam allowance (I used 1 cm). In my case, I wanted the ready placket to be 2.5 cm wide, so my pieces were (2 x 2.5 cm) + (0.5 x 2.5 cm) + (1 x 1 cm)  7.3 cm wide. 
photo 1 Cut pieces_zpsptdjhbjf.jpg
II. First pin the rectangular placket pieces along the center line of your shirt, on the reverse side, the right side of the plackets facing up. Next you will sew a box around the spot where the two placket pieces meet. In my case, the ready placket was going to be 2.5 cm wide, so I sewed 2.5/2 = about 1.3 cm from the center line, until about 3 cm from the bottom of the shorter piece, across, and up again 1.3 cm from the center.
photo 2 Pinned in place_zpsiamkuuzt.jpg
III. Once the box is sewed in place, cut open along the center line, and dow two notches at the end..
photo 3 Cut open_zpsvx9s4t74.jpg
.. Like this, creating a little triangle at the bottom. Careful not to cut the stitch.
photo 4 Notched corners_zpst3jubin7.jpg
IV. Next we need some folds. Fold about 1 cm up at the end of the longer placket piece, and press.
photo 5 Folded end_zpsctstcqok.jpg
Also fold 1 cm (or your seam allowance) on the long edges of both pieces.
photo 6 Folded long edges_zpsohhgbzmu.jpg
V. Next flip the entire thing so the right side of the shirt is up. Pull the shorter placket piece through onto the right side. Also make sure the little triangle comes onto this side. Press both pieces. Then pin the placket down and stitch right along the edge.
photo 7 Pulled onto right side_zpstwsauwf5.jpg
VI. Then pull the longer piece over to the right side and fold it in half, pressing. This is what it should start looking like..
photo 8 Lower piece sewn and upper pulled through_zpsyzwzwefa.jpg
.. With the seam allowance and the fold you had done at the bottom nicely packaged inside.
photo 9 Seam allowances inside.jpg
VII. Then pin the bottom of the upper placket piece down so it covers the lower piece nicely. Sew a box at the end (how long you want the box to be will determine how far up from the bottom the placket is closed, i.e. how deep your neckline will be (without thinking about buttons). I did mine pretty long, about 10 cm.
photo 10 Upper piece pinned at bottom.jpg
Once the box is sewn, the placket should look like this on the reverse:
photo 11 Ready on reverse_zpsmlwum0u8.jpg
And like this on the right side! Next you can add buttons if you wish, and continue constructing the collar. I talk about that here.
photo 12 Ready on right side_zpso7ewiybc.jpg photo DIYPlacketCollarShirt2_zpsnir8w8ax.jpg photo DIYPlacketCollarShirt_zpsb3pirhbl.jpg
xo,

Julia

1 comment:

  1. I LOVE your style & the fact that your self-made clothes look so not self-made. I'm excited to follow some of your tutorials & make a few pieces for myself :)

    ReplyDelete

I would love to hear what you think and learn about your DIY adventures! If you use one of my tutorials, tag me on social @contour_affair, I'd love to see!

 

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