Placket

A placket is a finished opening in a garment that lets you get it on and off, usually with a band of fabric that holds buttons, snaps or another fastening. Shirt fronts, shirt cuffs, polo shirts and the side openings of many vintage dresses all have plackets.

Types of placket

• Shirt front placket: a band down the centre front holding the buttons and buttonholes. It can be a separate band sewn on and topstitched, or cut-on, folded from the front piece itself. Buttonholes on a narrow placket are usually vertical. See Buttonhole.
• Sleeve placket: the opening above a shirt cuff, so the cuff can be unbuttoned and the hand pass through. The two classic versions are the tower placket, a shaped band with a pointed top, found on dress shirts, and the simpler continuous bound placket, a slit finished with a single strip of fabric, found on blouses and casual shirts.
• Polo or half placket: a short front opening with a band, set into a slit at the neck.
• Side placket: an opening in the side seam closed with snaps or hooks and eyes. It was common in dresses before zips took over, and is found in many 1920s and 1930s garments.
• Trouser fly: strictly a kind of placket, with its own construction method.

Sewing plackets neatly

• Interface the placket band, so the buttons and buttonholes are supported. See Fusible Interfacing.
• Mark precisely. Plackets depend on accurate marking of the slit, the stitching lines, and the corners. Transfer every mark from the pattern.
• Reinforce and clip corners carefully. Many plackets involve stitching to a point, then clipping diagonally into the corner right up to, but not through, the stitches. A clip that's too short makes the band pucker. One that's too long frays.
• Press each fold before stitching. Plackets are mostly folds, and good pressing does half the work.
• Topstitch evenly, using an edgestitch foot as a guide. See Topstitching.
• Practise on a scrap first. A tower placket in particular is far easier the second time.

Placket or zip?

Plackets suit garments with buttons and a slightly more casual or traditional look, such as shirts and shirt dresses. They're also an option where a zip would be too stiff or bulky, such as in fine fabrics and children's clothes.