How to add a button placket at a shoulder - Sewing technical tutorial

If you too have finished your sewing project only to find that you can't get your head through the neckline during the fitting (or more often, your little one's head!), this tutorial is for you! In this video, we explain how to simply add a shoulder placket to any t-shirt or sweatshirt pattern.

 For the English version, remember to active the English subtitles.

 Several reasons may lead you to add a shoulder placket opening:

• Your neckline is narrow or close to the neck,
• Your fabric is not very stretchy, or
• You or your child have a large head (it happens to everyone!)

Thanks to this technical video, you can hack some of your favorite patterns or adapt them for a second use, such as making a UV-protection t-shirt from Lycra knit using a Simple T-Shirt pattern. Since Lycra knit is tighter than jersey, the t-shirt can only be put on after adding the shoulder placket. This will save you from having to buy a specific pattern!

Quick and easy to do, this tutorial allows you to enlarge the head opening by the shoulder seam allowance.

Materials Needed for Adding a Shoulder Placket

To complete this project, you will need your usual sewing supplies, scraps of your main fabric or a matching jersey, lightweight iron-on interfacing, buttons or snaps, a piece of pattern paper, a ruler, and a pencil.

Drafting a Shoulder Placket

For this modification, you will add two pieces to your pattern: the first is a facing for the front shoulder piece, which will be a partial lining of the shoulder, and the second is a button placket, assembled to the back, which will slide under the front shoulder (see video).

Start with the front facing: place your pattern paper and the front piece of your pattern in front of you, including seam allowances. Copy the outline of the left shoulder: start along the shoulder, then continue by copying the neckline and the top of the armhole for a few centimeters. Draw a line parallel to the shoulder line at three centimeters. Cut around it, and your front facing is ready (see video).

For the back placket, copy the outline of the facing you just created. Duplicate it by placing the piece symmetrically along the bottom line. This piece will be folded in half during assembly. Cut around it, and your shoulder placket is ready.

The last step is to simply lengthen your neckline band by 2.5 cm from the base length.

Cutting and Assembling a Shoulder Placket:

Cut each of the two pieces you just created from fabric and interfacing. Fuse your pieces on the wrong side of your fabric. Serge or overlock the edges.

For assembly, start by sewing the front and back of your garment at the right shoulder: place and stitch according to the seam allowances of your pattern, with the front and back right sides together, aligning the right shoulder on the wearer (the shoulder without the placket).

Next, align the left front shoulder and the facing right sides together along the shoulder line. Stitch.

Align your back shoulder with the button placket in a single layer along the shoulder line. Stitch.

Next, attach the collar. Take your collar fabric piece. Fold it in half lengthwise, right sides together, and sew the ends (short sides). Trim the corners, then turn the collar right side out. Divide the resulting band into four equal parts, and place a pin at each mark.

Do the same with the neckline of your t-shirt, excluding the facing and back placket in your calculation. Pin the collar to the neckline, right sides together, matching the marks.

At the back, the collar should end at the fold in the middle of the button placket. At the front, it should end at the seam between the front and its facing. Fold the shoulder placket right sides together in the middle of it, and the front facing along the assembly seam with the front (the collar is sandwiched). Stitch all along the neckline, trim the corners, and turn the plackets to the wrong side of your garment.

You’re almost there! Place the back button placket under the front shoulder, align the edges at the armhole, and sew them by stitching in the seam allowance. Finally, add your snaps. You can now resume assembling your garment following the steps of your pattern.

Congratulations!