A sleeve placket might be a bit of a mystery at first glance and may leave some us of slightly puzzled as to how it all comes together – probably due to the fear of the unknown rather than the complexity of it.

There are many ways that a sleeve placket can be sewn and I am sure you will find your own preferred method. In the meantime, I wanted to share the method that I use a lot and find works very well.

You can add a sleeve placket to a garment that you are sewing from scratch, or be creative and customise something that you already have in your wardrobe.

Here are the steps for you. I am sure once you sew one you will be well on the way to becoming a sleeve placket master!

STEP 1:

• follow the guidelines illustrated for positioning placket box
• placket box positions on the back of the sleeve – ¼ of total wrist width, measured from the side seam

STEP 2:

• draft placket patterns as shown above
• cut out all details

STEP 3:

• mark placket enclosing box on your sleeve as illustrated
• A to B length of placket 4”

STEP 4:

• prepare your smaller placket (we will call it “narrow” placket) by pressing its ¼” seams towards the centre (wrong side to wrong side)

STEP 5:

• press “narrow placket” in half so that the seams are inside it

STEP 6:

• prepare your second placket (we will call it “wide” placket) – fold in half right side to right side
• mark length of your placket box A to B
• stitch “wide” placket tip part until you reach point B

STEP 7:

• trim off placket top corners leaving 1/8” seam

STEP 8:

• turn placket to the right side
• press ¼” seams to the inside of the placket

STEP 9:

• cut placket box centre line slashing into corners C and B creating V shape seam
• position “narrow” placket so that it hugs one box side (side which is positioned closer to side seam) and pin in place up to point B

STEP 10:

• topstitch “narrow” placket up to point B

STEP 11:

• position box V seam as illustrated – folded up, positioning on the right side of the fabric
• stitch “narrow” placket and V seam between points C and B

STEP 12:

• position “wide” placket on the opposite placket box side so it hugs ¼” seam
• pin in place up to corner point C

STEP 13:

• place the tip of  your placket so it covers “narrow” placket and V shape seams
• baste it in place as illustrated (your stitch line will be sewn exactly along the basting line)

• basting should run about ¼” below the placket box end

STEP 14:

• topstitch the placket

Hopefully you have mastered all the steps and have a lovely finished sleeve placket!