Business Casual Part 2: Invisible polo closure

Welcome to the Business Casual series! We will share exciting tips from various inspiration magazines about sewing elements such as concealed button plackets and lapel collars, sleeves or cuffs. Todays tip about how to sew an invisible polo closure is taken from inspiration issue 62.

If you want to read more helpful tutorials, you can find an overview here: “Tips and Tricks”.  It’s worth checking back regularly or subscribing to the newsletter to make sure you can learn our experts’ tricks!

What is an invisible polo closure?

A polo closure is a high quality finish which can look sophisticated, elegant or athletic. Like the classic polo closure, the invisible polo closure is added to the middle of the front pattern piece without sewing a middle seam. You make one straight cut and the polo closure is sewn with an additional strip of fabric. This requires good coordination and exact sewing, which is why a polo closure is considered an intermediate or advanced technique. An invisible polo closure does not disrupt the fabric on the front and is therefore especially suited for fabrics with prints. The closure was used on this stunning shirtwaist dress:

NOTE

The right sides of the fabrics are of darker colour, the wrong sides are light blue or light yellow.

Preparations for the polo closure

The button tape is cut out in double the length of the slit, 4.4 cm wide, plus seam allowances all around. The width of the finished button tape is 2.2 cm. You might want to adjust the measurements so they fit your button size or pattern. Iron on some Vilene at the end of the slit on the wrong side of the front section for reinforcement.

How to sew an invisible polo closure

Since the finished button tape is 22 mm wide, the front section is clipped 11 mm to the right of the centre-front and parallel to it, up to the cross mark (red line). The broken blue line in the drawing denotes the centre-front, right side of fabric.

Place button tape right-sides-together below the opened-up slit. Sew with a seam allowance of approx. 2 mm on the outer fabric parallel to the edge of the fabric strip – here, the seam on the bottom end of the slit now only just intrudes into the front section.

Place seam allowances in the button tape, turn under the opposite seam allowance of the strip, then fold once more lengthways in half. The strip will now have the finished button-tape width of 2.2 cm.

Stitch the free edge down from the right side in the ditch, or directly on the button tape. Fold button tape on the right side of the slit inwards.

Straight-stitch button tape crossways at the bottom (red line).

Sew buttons on closure and work buttonholes into it. Here, the buttonholes on the overlay can either be sewn through all the layers, as on our dress, or you can fashion an invisible button tape.
Finally, either work the collar or topstitch the neckline edge, sewing on the overlay at the same time.

With the invisible button tape, the buttons are not visible from the outside – the buttonholes are only sewn into the button tape. Here, however, the back edge of the free button tape must be stitched between the buttons to the outer fabric with bartacks at regular intervals to finish.

And this is how you sew an invisible Polo closure!