Archer Sew Along: Sleeve Plackets
Inserting sleeve plackets used to really stress me out. Bad. I'm not really sure why anymore but I think it was something about stitching to within a thread of the placket center that really amped up my stress levels. It sounds so serious the way they describe it in books but it's actually not a big deal and is pretty quick and painless. With that, lets put our plackets in!
Pin your placket strip to the placket slit on the sleeve with right sides facing. As you can see in the photo above, the two layers will be flush with each other at the two ends but the center point of the sleeve slit will be approximately 1/4" from the edge of the placket piece.
Stitch along the placket opening 1/4" from the edge of the placket piece. You're going to want to just catch the center of the sleeve opening making sure you don't stitch any folds or tucks into the opening.
Press the placket away from the sleeve and fold over the 1/4" seam allowance.
Fold this side of the placket up onto the underside of the sleeve so that it just covers the stitching line you made while attaching the placket to the sleeve. This will enable you to neatly stitch from the front in the next step while catching all layers.
Stitch along the length of the placket as closely to the edge as possible. I stitched at 1/16" but do whatever you're comfortable with.
This step is optional, I haven't found it in my books oddly, but I really like doing this part. I think it really anchors things nicely. Once the placket is sewn in place, fold the placket in half with right sides facing and stitch diagonally across the top of the placket. Make sure that you only sew to the stitching line, if you cross that line it will create a tuck in the front of the sleeve.
Press the side of the placket that hangs to the front of the body under. Repeat all of this for the other sleeve.
That wasn't so bad was it? Tomorrow we'll be inserting the sleeves and sewing up those side seams, then we're in the home stretch of collar, cuffs, hem, buttons.
