How To… Create a Button Placket For the Peggy Bodice
I’m so excited to bring you my second-ever tutorial! This one features the Peggy Bodice, released as part of Gertie & Charm Pattern’s Patreon. When Gertie released the pattern, she first teased it with a vintage advertisement for a grouping of dresses featuring high necklines and different details. I saw one particular dress that I was drawn to that featured a narrow placket with small buttons extending from the neckline to the underbust seam, and decided to try that out for this make!
You could adapt this technique to work with many bodices, so feel free to try it out with any pattern you like! I’d love to see your results.
Supplies Needed:
-All of the fabrics and materials necessary to make up your dress, plus a little bit of extra fabric for your placket (this will need to be a bit longer than the length you would like your placket to be, and at least a couple of inches wide; I was able to use a leftover scrap)
-Piping to match or contrast with your fabric (I chose to contrast, but as you can see in the inspiration image, that is all monochrome).
-Thread to match your piping
-A ruler (I like a clear grid ruler like this one https://amzn.to/3GgUfbx )
-Recommended but not strictly necessary; a tool to help you space out your buttons evenly, like this one: https://amzn.to/3X0Aprh
-Buttons (use whatever size you like and be sure to purchase enough that they can be relatively closely spaced— since this is a decorative feature, you want to make sure there are enough buttons to be fairly prominent!)
-Pins (I like longer pins with a larger pinhead so they’re easy to maneuver and pull out as you sew: https://amzn.to/3GCOzKi)
Prep: Sew your bodice front, but don’t attach any lining, facings, collars, midriff pieces, etc… You want to be able to sandwich the placket in between any other seams at the top and bottom of the piece you’re applying it to. Mark the center of the top and bottom of the piece you’re going to apply the placket to; you can use tailor’s chalk or a thread tack, I just insert a pin at the center point. Whatever works for you!
Give your piping a quick press to get the creases from being wrapped around the card stock packaging out.
Step 1: Using a ruler, cut a strip of your fabric a little bit longer than the pattern piece you’ll be applying it to, and however wide you’d like your placket to be, plus enough extra for seam allowance on each long side. I cut mine about three and a half inches wide, and had a finished width of about two inches. The inspiration image had a narrower placket, but you can also do a slightly wider one than I did— you just don’t want it so wide that your bust will distort the placket, if that makes sense.
Step 2: Pin your piping along the long sides of your strip of fabric. Make sure that the piping side is facing the middle of the strip, with the plain fabric flange on the edge side of the fabric. Wherever you place the piping will determine the finished width of your placket, so now is your chance to eyeball it to get the width you’d like. You’ll notice I scooted mine in from the outer edge because I decided I wanted it a bit narrower.
Step 3: Stitch the piping to the fabric with thread that matches the color of the piping. Make sure you are stitching very close to the edge of the cord in your piping. I like to use a regular presser foot and eyeball it, but some folks like using a narrow foot (like a zipper foot) that will ride alongside the piping instead of on top of it. I just find I am able to get closer to the cord of the piping with my regular foot.
Step 4: Roll the seam allowance to the back of your placket and press so that the piping is on the far edge of each side of the placket.
Step 5: Mark where you’d like your buttons to be on your placket, being sure to remember that you’ll need enough room for your seam allowance at the top and bottom of the placket for sewing on your collar/ lining/ facing at the top and skirt/ midriff piece/ hem at the bottom of the placket. Stitch your buttons onto the placket.
Step 6: Pin your placket to your bodice front, being sure to center the placket on the bodice.
Step 7: “Stitch in the ditch” between the placket fashion fabric and the piping to attach it to the bodice. You’ll likely want to use thread that matches your piping for this. Your stitches will be mostly hidden in the seam between the piping and the placket, but using thread that matches the piping rather than the fabric will make it even more invisible.
You’ll now have a finished bodice piece with your placket attached. You can trim the excess length at the top and bottom from the placket so the original cutting line is preserved at the top and bottom of your pattern piece.
Step 8: Assemble the rest of your garment like you normally would! You can trim the excess from your placket so it follows the original shape/ length of the bodice piece it was applied to before moving forward with the rest of your steps.
So there you have it! You’ve got to be careful and go slow with some of these steps (stitching neatly in the ditch, making sure things are centered, getting your buttons centered and spaced out evenly), but it’s not a difficult hack and is such a nice detail! I think it added a lot of character to my project, and I’ll definitely be keeping this technique in mind for future projects!
