Techniques: Sewing a Shirt Yoke and Sleeve Plackets

I think the highlight of my DIY year 2015 was hands-down the discovery that I could make buttondown shirts. I've also realized there's and endless sea of possibilities to step up my shirt sewing game, so much to learn!! In this one I'll just share my favourite methods for sleeve plackets (proper ones, not the shortcut version I did in my first shirt post.. The shame!) and the yoke. Both super easy compared to what I had feared.

Tutorials take a lot of time & effort to create, and I choose to make mine available for free. If you enjoy this guide, you can support me with a donation that feels right for you, here.

SLEEVE PLACKETS

There are tons of different ways to sew plackets, this is just one I've been using lately and I find pretty easy. You could adjust the width and length for a longer and/or thinner placket, or instead of the triangle do just a straight ending.

I. Here are the pieces I work with when I get started. I've done enough by now just to eyeball it when I cut them out, that's why the measurements here are a bit out there (I just cut them out and then measured and this is what they happened to be).  The main points are: both pieces should be equally wide and equally long, apart from the triangular part that sticks out from those measurements on the larger piece.

II. Pin your plackets on your sleeve (when it does not yet have the cuff attached), right side of placket facing the reverse of the sleeve. The way I remember which way they go is T's together - the piece with the Triangle belongs on the Top of the sleeve.

.. Here's a closeup of the placket pieces pinned in place.

III. Once pinned, sew a box about 0,5 cm from where the edges of the pieces meet (this box will be the length and width of your placket, more or less. Cut the sleeve underneath open as shown below, cutting two slits at the end right to the corners (careful not to cut the stitch).

IV. Then we start folding, from the rectangular piece's side. First fold to the stitch line. Press.

'Then fold again, now to the cut edge. Press again.
V. Moving on to the piece with the triangle. First fold about 0,7 cm and press:

.. Then fold the edges of the triangle and press:

.. And finally fold the whole thing to the cut edge, and press well.

VI. Now turn the sleeve around so your right side is facing up, and pull the rectangular side of the placket through. This will also pull that little triangle you cut to the bottom of your box, through. Press those triangle pieces down so they stay nice and flat.

.. Then reassemble your rectangular piece as you had pressed it before on the reverse side. The seam allowances should arrange themselves nicely inside the fold..

.. And it should look something like this once you've pressed it flat again. Take the sleeve to your machine and straight stitch along the free edge of this first side of the placket.

VII. You've then created the bottom piece of the placket! Pull the other side through just like you did the first and it should sit on top of your lower placket layer. Press.

.. Then stitch the edge of this side down. Mark the spot where you want your box to start with a pin, and make sure you are only stitching this side of the placket. Sew until the pin.

At the pin, lift your presser foot..

.. And pull the other side of the placket under. Continue stitching both layers along the edges of the triangle..

Like so. Finish your box by continuing the stitch straight trough the placket.

VIII. And done! Next up would be sewing the pleat (if adding one next to the placket) and attaching your cuff.

Here's what my ready sleeve looked like after adding my cuff. Nice and crisp!

SHIRT YOKE

Many women's shirts don't even have a yoke, which in my opinion is a shame. I love the masculine, more structured look it gives a shirt, plus there is so much you can do with the materials - In this example I just had the stripes on the outside facing yoke, cuffs, and collar go horizontally vs. vertically in the rest of the shirt.. But I've made W some shirts where the lining piece of the yoke is from another fabric, which can look really cool and give a shirt a more expensive feel (even if the wearer and maybe a lucky someone are the only ones that ever see this detail).

I. Here's what you'll start with. instead of one back piece, you'll need one for the lower part of the back, and two pieces for the upper part.

II. Start by pinning the first yoke piece to the larger back piece, right sides facing.

.. Repeat the same on the reverse side of the back piece - pin the second yoke piece there. From this fabric you can't really tell the right and wrong sides apart, but when working with fabric with a clear reverse side, I still like to pin my lining yoke right side to the wrong side of the main back piece, so you end up seeing the right side of the fabric inside the shirt.

III. Sew the 3 pieces together with a straight stitch about 1 cm from the edge. If working with stripe, make sure your stitch stays in between two stripes..

.. So it looks clean when you flip the yoke pieces up. Press well at this point.

IV. Then topstitch on the right side, a couple mm from the seam. I find it also helps at this point to stitch the two yokes together along the edges.

V. To attach the newly completed back piece to your front pieces, pin the shoulders together right sides facing and complete the seams. I like to go with flat-felled seams on my shirts, where one seam allowance wraps around the other one on the reverse (pic below). It's little things like this that make your selfmade things feel not so DIY.

.. Here's a look at the top-stitching on the right side.

That's it for this one!
xo,

Julia