I’m wondering if anyone recalls an article in Threads within the last three years (I think) that gave instructions for making a blouse or jacket front with buttonholes that are hidden under a self fold of the fabric? Usually there is a line of stitching holding everything together about 1 inch from the folded edge. Everything is neat and tidy on the wrong side with no raw edges.
I don’t know what that kind of “placket”is called so I can’t even do a search for it. Well, I did try but nothing worked.
Thanks so much.
Replies
I think the hidden placket article you're looking for was in #112.
Thank you!
I finally found the correct issue but it doesn't tell the method that I need to join the collar that is closed at the neck. I have figured out the lap, the "hidden buttonholes" and how much fabric to add on to the center front. Iwould like the area where the collar joins the seam to be neat and tidy. I don't have a blouse or a pattern that I can use to try to figure it out. Could anyone help me, please?
I suppose that I could use a bias piece to face the edge but I don't think that is the "tidy" way and I don't want that stitching to show.
I have my pants made, my accessories are done and I am determined to wear this outfit on Sunday!
Virginia:
I have a Vogue Classics pattern #7646, which is a traditional shirt-type blouse with the covered placket you describe. There is no separate piece for the placket - the front edge is cut extra wide to fold back and create the hidden placket. The left front, the button side, is trimmed before proceeding. The right front is turned inside along the outside foldline, pressed, and turned again toward the inside along the inside foldline before being stitched in place. Then, half of it is turned back toward the outside edge and basted in place. These steps are the first steps in the blouse's construction. The neckline is thus the correct diameter for the traditional attachment of the band/collar piece.
In the final step to finish the blouse, the flap created by this process can be pulled back enough to make the buttonholes.
It is critically important to carefully mark all of the fold- and stitchlines in this area. I didn't the first time I made this blouse, and I had to steam the heck out of that area to get it to fit neatly with the collarband. Fortunately, it was wool, and steam really helped.
Betsy V
Nancy Zeman has instructions on this and how to draft the hidden placket in one of her books
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