The New Dressmaker/Chapter 21
CHAPTER 21
PLACKETS
For Unlined Dresses—For Cloth Skirts—Placket at Center of Inverted Plait—At Underfold of Plait—At Center of a Habit Back—Under a Strapped Seam—For a Skirt Set in Same Belt with Foundation Skirt—Underwear Plackets—Feather—Stitched Hem on Plackets
PLACKETS SUCH AS ARE MADE FOR UNLINED DRESSES are shown in Illustrations 191 and 192. This placket is used on skirts of unlined dresses when the outside sewing would be an objection; also on dresses that have to visit the laundry. Use a strip twice the length of the opening and three and three-quarter inches wide.
Lay the lap along the edge of the opening with the right side of the lap and skirt together and baste them in a narrow seam. (Ill. 191.) Run it almost to a point at the lower end of the opening. Turn the free edge under and hem it close to the sewing. (Ill. 191.) When this strip or lap is applied above the back seam of a skirt, it is set back
 Ill. 191. Inside View of Continuous Lap Placket |
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an eighth of an inch from the stitching of the seam. One side is extended out to form the underlap, and the other side is turned under on an even line with the stitching of the seam. When the placket is closed, the entire lap is hidden. (Ill. 192.)
In transparent fabrics such as chiffon, etc., which are not sent to the laundry, the skirt placket should be made as inconspicuous as possible. Don't face the placket edges as the seams would show. Turn a hem and overcast the loose edges finely to show as little as possible. These materials as a rule are made in soft styles where there is no strain on the placket edges. Patent fasteners can be used for the closing, as few of them and as small as will hold the placket. (Chapter 24, page 116.) Use no other sewing on the placket other than the sewing for the fasteners.
THE PLACKETS FOR CLOTH SKIRTS require neat and tailor-like workmanship. Great care must be taken in handling the edges of the opening. They are generally bias, and stretch easily. If the upper edge becomes stretched, it will bulge when the skirt is on the figure—a defect you probably have often noticed on other women. Hooks and eyes or patent fasteners (page 116) should be placed sufficiently close together to prevent the skirt from gaping. Any stitching that shows through on the outside should be 
Ill. 193. Simple Placket Where There Is No Strain
done evenly and with a suitable stitch and tension. Otherwise the placket-hole will have a careless appearance. A placket-hole should be ten or eleven inches deep unless the figure is unusually large and full, requiring a still deeper opening.
The design of the skirt regulates the position and finish of the placket. It may be at the center or side back, the front or side front.
Illustration 193 shows a simple finish for a placket which may be used for a skirt that has fulness at the top so that no strain comes on the placket-hole. The overlapping edge is finished with a facing and the under edge with an underlap. The facing can be machine-stitched or finished invisibly by hand according to the finish of the skirt. Snap fasteners (Chapter 24, page 116) may be used for the closing since there is no strain. The fasteners should be placed about two inches apart.
 Ill. 194. Placket in Center of Inverted Plait |
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A PLACKET-HOLE AT THE CENTER OF AN INVERTED PLAIT is shown in Illustration 194. The placket comes under an inverted plait at the center back of the skirt which fits plainly at the top.
The first step in finishing the placket of a skirt of this kind is to turn the skirt edges back as allowed by the pattern. Stitch the edges of the placket-hole and sew on the hooks and eyes as illustrated, taking care that the stitches don't show through on the outside of the skirt. Cover the hooks on the right side with a facing of silk. Sew an underlap of material an inch and a half wide, finished, to the left edge, and bind the raw edge of the lap with binding ribbon. (Ill. 195.)
Ill. 196. Placket Showing Hooks and Eyes
A PLACKET-HOLE AT THE UNDER FOLD OF A PLAIT is often used. Cut through the crease or under fold in the plait to the regular placket depth. Bind both cut edges of the plait with binding ribbon or a binding of thin silk. This method allows the plait to serve as a placket underlap.
Ill. 197. Finished Placket on Habit-Back Skirt
The outer fold of the plait may be stitched (Ill. 196), leaving the under portion of the plait free. Illustration 196 shows the position of the hooks and eyes or the patent fasteners on the under fold of the plait.
If the plait is in a skirt that fits at the top so that there is likely to be a strain on the placket, hooks and eyes are the strongest fastenings. But if it is a plaited skirt where the plaits fall free and there is no strain on the placket, snap fasteners may be used.
THE PLACKET-HOLE AT THE CENTER OF A HABIT BACK is practically the same as for the skirt with an inverted plait closed at the center-back seam. (Ill. 197.)
A PLACKET-HOLE UNDER A STRAPPED SEAM is shown in Illustration 198. The right-hand fold of the strap is stitched flat to the skirt. The left-hand edge of the strap is turned under and stitched to itself, following the same line of stitching that holds the rest of the strap to the skirt. (Ill. 198.)
Ill. 198. Placket Finish of Strapped Seam
The hooks are sewed to the left edge of the strap. Notice that they are set close together and a trifle back from the edge. A strap placket must be held firmly to keep the line of trimming absolutely straight. For the same reason it is just as well to add a row of patent fasteners just back of the hooks. (Ill. 198.)
Ill. 199. Reverse Side of Underlap
The underlap should be an inch and a half wide and an inch longer than the placket-hole, finished. (Ill. 199.) It should be made of the skirt material and its edges bound with seam binding or silk. Blind loops are used instead of eyes and should be worked on the skirt in corresponding positions to the eyes. The fasteners are sewed to the lap.
THE PLACKET-HOLE IN A SKIRT SET IN THE SAME BELT with its foundation skirt is made by the same methods as an ordinary placket. In such an instance, the placket opening of the skirt and foundation skirt are finished separately.
Whatever kind of placket is used, one should be particularly careful to see that the hooks and eyes or fasteners are so arranged that they will keep the holes securely closed. Nothing looks worse than a gaping placket, and any woman who takes a pride in her personal appearance will pay special attention to this part of her dressmaking.
 Ill. 201. Underlap and Facing Stitched to Placket Slit in Skirt
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 Ill. 200. Underlap and Facing Strip for Placket
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UNDERWEAR PLACKETS
UNDERWEAR PLACKLETS are made in the following manner. If there is no seam, cut the opening in the garment the desired length.
 Ill. 202. Folded to Position |
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It should be long enough to slip easily over the head. Cut for a lap a strip of material lengthwise of the goods. It should be twice the length of the placket opening and three and three-quarter inches wide. Fold the ends together and crease through center; open and fold the sides together and crease. Cut out one section to within a small seam of the crease as shown in Illustration 200.
Ill. 204. Feather-stitched Hem of Placket
Baste the long straight edge of the lap to both edges of the opening, making a narrow seam. Run it almost to a point at the lower edge of the opening. (Ill. 201.) Make a narrow turning on the three edges of both the narrow and the wide part of the lap. Double the wide part back (Ill. 202), baste the edge over the line of the sewing, and hem. This forms the underlap. Turn the narrow part back on the line of sewing, baste the free edge to the garment to form an underfacing, and hem. The end of the underlap is turned under, basted and stitched across. The finished closing is shown in Illustration 203. This placket has an outside row of stitching. It is usually employed for drawers, petticoats, etc.
A FEATHER-STITCHED HEM ON A PLACKET used on flannel petticoats is shown in Illustration 204.