Every time I have to make a nice placket for a skirt I have to look up how to do it, and then disregard some of the instructions and somehow manage it anyway.
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Every time I have to make a nice placket for a skirt I have to look up how to do it, and then disregard some of the instructions and somehow manage it anyway.
I'm describing each step in the Alt Text, not here! -
It's not the finest job of a placket I've ever made, but it's also a rather coarse linen twill so it's not like we're going for dainty and delicate anyway, so I've not shied away from some utilitarian topsttching!
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Should you wish to gaze upon some actual instruction of what even is placket, I have once again consulted this old Butterick manual from 1911, it's quite good: https://archive.org/details/dressmaker00butt/page/34/mode/1up
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Put together the rest of skirt pieces apart from the waistband, which I just now cut out from leftover fabric. I'm using more of the nice selvedge so I don't have to sew through millions of layers to attach and finish the waistband, it'll be a little bit flatter and go with the placket.
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In theory the style at the time would have been a relatively narrow waistband, so it doesn't add any bulk under the bodice... But I often wear my skirts on top of shirts and blouses, and a pretty wide and robust waistband looks and feels nicer if I can't be bothered to wear a corset under it (as I usually can't) because it'll dig in less. I'm just aware of it, in my head, that my waistbands tend to be huge!
It does also make it easier to unpick and let them out later. But still. Huge!
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Little loops! For hanging the skirt off a hanger! I keep forgetting about it when I make skirts, and then thinking I'll add them later but never do... I do remember the old tomes say there should be two, at both side seams, and one at the centre back, but no recollection or idea of how long they should be. Perhaps this too, will be revealed in one of the books I like.
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@sinituulia I reckon if you make the centre back one longer, it can go over the metal hook, and then the shorter ones at the side over the hanger?
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@amberage Probably could, but I do also have skirt/trouser hangers that have a hook in the centre that's level with the clips... So making them all even would also work
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@amberage (I tend to put skirts on these hangers anyway, clipped in, but this skirt is so heavy I could actually finally bother to put the loops in for redundancy...)
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@sinituulia @amberage I hate the way that clipped hangers end up not working anymore after a few years, so I'm currently going through all of my skirts to add loops (only to the sides, I didn't know of the center back one, but thinking about the way some heavier backs hang that's a neat idea!) -
@valhalla It was advised in one of the old tomes!
I posted a photo of how the skirt sits on these hangers I have, and the centre back loop is definitely very nice to have!
I put drawstrings on the waistband of all my petticoats, and always put the drawstring on the centre hook bit, otherwise the back will drag down like heck, and drag out the rest of the waist off the clips -
@sinituulia and the older the tomes, the heavier the skirts! (to some extent)
