Sep 04, 2014 The Front Placket Tutorial Inserting a front placket can be challenging. It definitely requires intermediate to advanced sewing skills but with practice and patience anyone can achieve a professional looking placket. I suggest doing a trial run (or two) if this technique is new to you. Here is the method used to insert the front placket into the Diana blouse pattern. What You Will Need Transfer Pattern Markings To transfer notches, simply make a small snip into the seam allowance of the fabric. Remember that the seam allowance used here is 1/4" so make your snip about 1/8" or less. To transfer the small dots, use a marking pen/pencil or tracing paper. It is important that the small dots are transferred accurately so make sure they are perfectly positioned on each piece. The dots will be 1/4" (0.6 cm) from each raw edge. Constructing the Front Plackets Step One Choose one pair of the front plackets and fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric. These fused pieces will become the Outer Front Placket, meaning these are the pieces that will show on the outside of the garment. The remaining Front Plackets (without interfacing) will be the Front Placket Facings and will show on the inside of the garment. Step Two Place one Outer Front Placket and one Front Placket Facing together with correct sides of the fabric facing each other. Do the same with the remaining pieces. Step Three Stitch along the centre front (un-notched) edge using 1/4" seam allowance. Be sure to back stitch at the start and end of the seam. Step Four Press the seam allowances toward the Front Placket Facings. I find this easiest to do from the correct side of the pieces. (I am using the term "correct side" to indicate the right side or face of the fabric.) Step Five Under stitch the seam allowance to the Front Placket Facing. Under stitching makes the edge of the placket nice and crisp and helps with turning the facing under so that the seam line isn't visible on the correct side of the garment. Step Six Press along the seam line. Roll the seam line edge toward the facing side to prevent it from showing on the outside of the garment. When you're done, you will have a pair of perfectly prepped Front Plackets ready to set to the Front. (Say that five times really quickly just for fun!) Setting the Plackets to the Front Step One Begin by placing the Front section on the table in front of you with the correct side of the fabric facing up. Place the Front Plackets on top with the Outer Front Placket against the correct side of the Front. Match the notches and the small dots through all layers. The position of the small dots are extremely important here so take some time to line them up exactly. Step Two Stitch the Front Plackets to the Front using a 1/4" seam allowance. Stop stitching exactly on the small dot. Backstitch to secure. Step Three Clip into the corners of the Front at a 45 degree angle to meet the small dot. Be extra careful not to clip past the stitching line. Do not clip into the Front Plackets. Step Four Press the seams of the front plackets and arrange the plackets so that they are lapped right over left on the outside of the garment. Be sure they are stacked exactly on top of each other. Allow the "triangular" seam allowance at the bottom of the placket to sit on top for now, we will flip it to the inside in the next step. Step Five With the Front section on the table in front of you, roll the bottom hem up toward the neckline to expose the the bottom edge of the Front Plackets and the "triangular" seam allowance of the Front placket opening. (Here is where you will flip that triangular seam allowance to the inside of the garment.) Check again to be sure that the plackets are stacked directly on top of each other. Step Six Stitch the "triangular" seam allowance to the Front Plackets through all layers, from small dot to small dot. Be careful not to catch the folded edge of the Front section, if you do, it will create puckering on the outside of your garment. Step Seven Unroll the bottom hem to check your work. The Front Plackets should be securely stitched to the Front without any puckering or raw edges showing on the outside. Step Eight The last step is to serge or otherwise edge finish the seam allowance of the placket opening. Give it a good press. That's it! You are finished with the placket insertion. Don't worry if it didn't work out the first time perfectly, it does take a little practice. This is a great technique to master as it will come in handy if you are ever confronted with welt pockets or bound buttons holes. In any case I hope you found the tutorial helpful. Please comment if you have any questions or you need any clarification.
