#snap placket

[professorpski]

When Loose Was Really Loose: Vogue 7013 from 1999

We all wore humongous clothing in the 1990s. I would know as I have a group photo with me wearing a man’s cast-off raincoat from the late ‘90s and I look like a small child swimming in a sea of fabric. It gave me pause at the time and I stopped wearing over-sized clothing. Looking like a small child was not my ambition.

This big look had started in the 1980s with big shoulder pads in women’s suits at a time when women were entering corporate positions of power for the first time. So, it seemed a good idea to appear as big as men, or as big as linebackers. 1 inch shoulders pads and extended shoulders were common. At times a shoulder pad in a blouse on top of shoulder pad in a suit jacked produced enormous silhouettes. Which is why I supposed hair styles got so big too. To keep our shoulders company. 

This pattern from the 1990s is not in my size, so I knew I had to cut it down. That will not be hard as it has multiple sizing printed on it, so I need only sketch in an even smaller size than offered. But then I noticed it was marked “very loose-fitting.” Things don’t get any bigger than that in Vogue Patterns. That means it has over 8″ of design ease--i.e. that it is at least 8″ bigger than I am. Oh, I thought, I really do need to size this down.

Now, it was cut big for reasons beyond the sizing of the era. Notice that it has no front opening which is why it is perfect for a rayon fabric that has larger flower motifs. I won’t have to cut up the flower motifs across the front. The same is true of the back which lacks an opening as well. You slip it on over the head which means it has to be large enough for you to put your arms into the sleeves.

So how to avoid this sloppy fit? I think I will create a snap placket at the left side seam which will allow me to pinch in darts at the waist front and back and/or take in the side seams, give it some shape, and still let me pull it on over my head. I may muslin it in a cheaper fabric first so as to be sure it all works.

I do like the trapeze neckline which is created by fitting raglan sleeves to the front bodice, and the edges faced to remained stable, so the effort is worth it to me.

[professorpski]

The Great Side Placket Experiment

Often when a 1930s blouse or dress pulled on over the head, side placket openings were used to make possible a fitted silhouette at the waist. They also removed the necessity of a row of buttons marching up the center of a blouse thus free it for all kinds of design options.

These plackets were sewn by binding both cut edges, often with one long piece of fabric, using machine sewing and then hand stitching finished the placket and added snaps. In an attempt to save time, I tried some experiments. I tried the premade snap tape which you see in the pale blouse on the left, and premade hook and eye tape which you see on the striped blouse on the right. Neither was was flexible as a fabric placket which you see in the middle on the print blouse.

And I learned to place the fabric binding piece slightly off grain as the fabric seam at the side of of a fitted blouse is always slightly off grain too. This allows you to attach the placket more easily with little disruption to the line of the blouse. Some vintage blouse pattern suggest that plackets shut at the bottom hemline, and some do not. I think shutting is better if you can still pull the blouse on. You are less likely to misalign the first set of snaps when you are donning the blouse, only to realize your mistake 2 snaps later and have to start all over again. And it makes for a smoother hemline.

Zippers would be suggested for side plackets especially later on in the 1940s and 1950s, but their stiffness is not always suited to the garment design. So I find myself loyal to the snap placket.