National Sewing Month-Guest Posts {sews-n-bows}

Hello and thank you for joining me for another guest feature to celebrate National Sewing Month! Amy from Sews-n-Bows is here today to share her tutorial on a Faux Button Placket. Thank you Amy for sharing your tutorial with us!

Hi! I’m Amy from SewsNBows, and I’m really excited to visit Sewlicious Home Decor! I’m here to show you how to make a faux button placket!

A faux button placket is a great way to create visual interest in a garment. I’ve used them for several projects on my blog, including my Faux Button Placket Dress for 18″ dolls, my Scirocco Pattern Review, and Bella’s Summer Romper.

Your faux button placket can be implemented into any lined bodice. Here’s how.

Begin by determining the width of your faux button placket. Mark a line that distance from the fold. Your finished placket width will be the amount you mark.

I wanted a very wide placket, so I used 2″. (Most plackets are about 1″.)

Lay your pattern piece on your fabric for cutting, using your pencil line as the new “fold” line.

Cut your pattern piece out, but extend your center front to the actual fold. You can draw it in with a pencil if you like. Or just chop away like a maniac, that’s what I do.

Cut your lining from the original pattern piece. In the photo above, you can see the 2″ difference.

5.With wrong sides together, sew a line directly across your pencil mark.

The next part was really hard to show in a photo, but you will unfold your bodice front and lay it flat on your ironing board, right side up. You’ll have a sort of mowhawk sticking up, or maybe flopping over.

Align your center front (true fold) down, even with your sewn line, and press. This creates your faux button placket!

You can keep your placket plain, or get your trims out and play around with the design. I’m demonstrating above how you sort of tuck your embellishment under the fold on each side. This is my favorite part. It’s like decorating a cake!

hint if you check out my scirocco dress, you can see a 1″ placket. If you tuck wide ric rac under, only half of it shows from under the placket. It’s very cute!

If you are adding trim, pin it down. Top stitch your faux button placket along the edges. This is a nice place for a decorative stitch! (I made a fabric ruffle for this dress. I have the bigger 2″ placket, so I needed something wider to slip under the folds.)
Now your bodice front and lining are the same size. You will treat them as regular pattern pieces. Follow the instructions for your pattern; such as adding straps, etc. Sew in your buttons!

Last, you will sew your bodice front to the lining, right sides together. Follow your pattern instructions for this step. In the photo above, I have attached straps and will sew along the dotted (dashed?) line.

You’ll end up with a really fancy looking bodice. It looks like you worked really hard, but all you did was sew 3 straight lines! Feel free to check out my Dia De Muertos Spooky Dress if you’d like to see this dress finished.

Thanks for having me Marti! Happy Haunting!

Amy Mayen

SEWS-n-BOWS