Wednesday, February 19, 2014

What would Celina do? + Classic Button Placket Tutorial.


You have no idea how long I have been looking forward to this day! The day where I get to celebrate one of the coolest, sweetest, most generous, modest and talented ladies out there together with a bunch of other Celina fans. 
But also because I don't have to keep this secret anymore, ha. I am always terrified to be the one who ruins the surprise.
Celina's very good friend Laura (Craftstorming & Tichy Threads) have arranged this series and I did not even think twice when she approached me. Yes! OF COURSE I would love to participate in a secret surprise all-in-one-overwhelming-day tribute blog tour to celebrate this heroine of mine, duh!


After all she was the one who offered to help me edit my Project Run & Play photos, and at that point did we not even know each other that well. She just spend days helping me during the month the competition lasted. We ended up chatting about tons of other subjects while we were in front of each our computer and I now consider her a very close friend. 
She is a constant inspiration for me and I look up to her big time.
I have ended up learning (and still am) so many things from her about photography, editing and graphics that I really felt and saw the difference in my photos afterwards. And since my photos were in the biggest need of improvement of all things on this blog, I really really do owe this friend of mine whatever I can give her.

Let's look at which of her projects I used for inspiration for this post:


I absolutely love those two shirts with the Peter Pan collars  and I LOVE how the collars don't go all the way around.
You can find all Celina's amazing tutorials HERE including this one.


When I think of Celina's style I think COOL ROMANTIC. Her clothes have clean lines and it is definitely not over-decorated, but they usually have a touch of softness/sweetness and I think this is where her inner romantic peeks out, hi hi.
I have already made this dress before in THIS post but Celina's idea about the half Peter Pan collar made me wanting to do it again. Besides the previous one I made was for a friend's daughter, so I guess it was time to add it to the family closet too.


This amazing lavender/French blue cotton lace was perfect to add a romantic touch to this dress's clean lines. I put a light blue cotton voile under to prevent it from being see through. And then I paired it with this amazing fairly thick hunter green cotton poplin with a slight shine. Aaaaand then some watermelon colored snaps for a bit of contrast.
The dress itself is very simple with a raglan sleeve and a loose fit. The pattern is self-drafted by the way. Because this lace is quite thick it did not drape very well, so I added an inside casing using a wide bias tape and put through an elastic. And now the dress is back in shape, hahaaaaha.


Here is a closer look at the sewed-in collar and button placket. The placket is annoying me so much in these photos. It looks all wonky and wavy...and I promise it did not look like that when I finished sewing it - actually you can see for yourself further down in the placket tutorial - if only I noticed it when I took the photos, I could just have turned the snap back up in place (you how how they can twist/turn a bit when they are closed) and the front placket would not be slightly wavy - but as usual I was too busy clicking away before the little lady was over the photo shoot....and as I am sure you can guess that is a matter of minutes, gah.

Oh well below is the tutorial that can teach you how to make a placket, non-wonky and all, ha.

I have chosen to show you a tutorial for the placket with the easiest finished width which is two times my preferred seam allowance (1 cm/ 3/8 inch) so in this case 2 cm width. That way you just have to cut a slit in your fabric (not like a wider opening), follow the seam allowance and you got your placket. But making it wider is not that much more difficult...it is all about math.

1) Here you see the two pattern pieces you need - a left and a right - or as I call them a fold-over placket and the inner placket to make it more logic to understand which piece I am talking about. And just to be ABSOLUTELY clear: the fold-over placket is the one you see when the button placket is closed and the inner placket is the one hidden (behind the fold-over placket).
The width and height of the pieces is pure logic.
Width = seam allowance + finished placket width + finished placket width + seam allowance.
Height = seam allowance + finished length/opening (minus square) + seam allowance.

And then the fold-over placket has a little extra length in one side which is of course the finishing square at the end. The reason why I am not doing the piece as a full rectangle is simply to avoid the square being too bulky. But you can totally cut it off right before sewing the last square stitch if it is confusing your pattern drafting....I know I always have to think an extra second about it every time to make sure I make a girl placket (since I usually sew for girls).

2) & 3) Interface your pieces and then it is time to cut open your garment - usually center front (CF) - but where ever you want a button placket really.
The cut have to be 3!! cm shorter than the length of the finished opening (see photo 3).
Now place you plackets (with right side) to garment's wrong side and sew.
Notice that my neck line is already finished at this point and the placket is the last operation...in that area at least.

4) Now fold your placket pieces towards the middle and iron your seam.
Then make a diagonal cut from the bottom of the slit to the bottom of the stitch you just made, stopping like 1 mm from the stitch. Both sides.

5) Fold your plackets double and close the top of the plackets.

6) Stitch your placket from the front side but only down to where you sewed it on with the first stitch (photo 2 & 3). Iron plackets after sewing.

7) Sorry to confuse you by suddenly starting to show you photos with the snaps already in but after finishing the sewing and looking at the photos I took for this tutorial, I realized I totally skip quite a few important steps. So what does a determined sewing blogger do? Yup, rips up the last stitch and takes the missing photos (you better start pinning ladies - this tutorial has cost blood, sweat and tears - kiiiidding!! But please DO pin it if you think it is useful, ha.)
Okay, back to the tutorial......we are doing a bit of folding in the next couple of photos.
So the triangle that came when you made those diagonal cuts (photo 4) now needs to be folded down on the right side.

8) Fold the inner placket to the middle.
Fold the bottom seam allowance up - using your iron will help you here so it stays put.

9) Now fold your fold-over placket over to the middle and pin the bottom square down to help you control it when you stitch.
When you have put the top pin in, take a look on the inside and see where the pin is placed. You sort of want to hit 1 mm from the edge.

10) See photo 10 for where it is suppose to be placed.
The dotted triangle is just to show you how that triangle is folded down in between the fabric and the bottom placket square and is creating a nice finish on the back too.

11) And here you see your finished placket with a square stitch that has closed it all up - on the front and back side.

Phew!

I don't want to scare you by saying that sewing these plackets are kind of hard....on the other hand I don't want to fool you by saying "See, super easy". This is just one of those things where you have to slow down and take your time with every step - that is really the best advice I can give you! 
Because if one thing goes wrong - fx sewing one placket further down than the other (step 3) then the placket is going to be trapeze shaped instead of an rectangle. Or if you don't cut your diagonal cut close enough to the stitch (step 4) then you will end up with a very un-smooth area around the bottom square. Or cut too far and you will have holes in your garment, yikes. I don't know about you, but to me 10-15 minutes extra sewing time  seems worth it, right!
My first placket did not look like this, it takes practice so please don't be discouraged.
And let me know if I can help, ok!

22 comments:

  1. Oh Mie, I love this! Looks like we both chose the same tutorial to emulate today, hahaha! But I love the addition of the button placket.. I will definitely have to try your tutorial!

    Natalie
    XX

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  2. OF COURSE I pinned this to my Sewing Tech board! You are the master, Mie!!

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  3. I LOVE your dress, as I love everything you do. It is such an honor to have you make something from my tutorial. I am in absolute shock, speechless- I have no words to express this feeling I have right now. I am happy to call you my good friend. I will come back and comment when I can think clear. Thank you. xxx

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  4. OOoooooo! I love this! And the placket is genius!

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  5. Perfect! Love the dress. The eyelet lace fabric is divine, I want some for myself. :) And as always your color combo is perfect. I love that you described Celina's style exactly how I think of it. I was struggling to find the right words. :)

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  6. Oh yeah, the tutorial is awesome. As always. :)

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  7. Love the way you used the collar and placket together! These colors are great too!

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  8. Great tutorial! I love that hat too.

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  9. Fantastic tutorial! I love the little dress it is gorgeous, gosh I don't think my boys would like a peter pan collar though hhehehehe :) x

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  10. I love this variation on Celina's tutorial and, of course, your tutorial is amazing too. You really nailed Celina's style with you different combinations of fabrics and colours. The contrast from the watermelon snaps is perfect.

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  11. Mie, dit geniale væsen! Så ta'r man lige lidt Celina lækkerier og krydrer det med lidt Mie fantasi - et voila! Fantastisk og gennemført!

    Love it, Mie - to combine a Celina tutorial with a little Mie love - amazing!!

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  12. Oh my goodness. SO CUTE! Great tutorial too. One of my favorite design elements is a placket but I haven't taken the time to become fluent with them. Your daughter is so adorable. I know what you mean about noticing things in photos after you speedily try to get them before your kid runs away. Lol. There are always threads hanging off or lint or something in mine where I'm editing and saying maaaaaaan.

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  13. Great idea, Mie! I love the combination of the collar with the placket. And thanks for that tutorial - I'll have to try this out.

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  14. Great tutorial! And I love the dress you made!

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  15. Cute dress! Thanks for sharing the button placket tutorial.

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  16. I love this Mie! I really really like this color combination!

    Alexia

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  17. Fantastic tutorial. Can't wait to try it out. Pinned to ensure I do! Thanks

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  18. awesome tutorial!!!! And my goodness, I love your daughters so much!

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