Yoke

A yoke is a shaped piece of a garment that fits closely across the shoulders or hips, with the rest of the garment attached to it and hanging from it. Most men's shirts have a yoke across the back of the shoulders. Many skirts and almost all jeans have a yoke across the hips.

What a yoke does

• Shapes without darts. The curve of the yoke seam does the fitting that darts would otherwise do. On jeans, the V-shaped back yoke replaces back darts and shapes the seat.
• Controls fullness. Gathers, pleats or tucks can be released from the yoke seam, giving a fitted top and a fuller body below. A shirt often has a box pleat or gathers at the centre back below the yoke, for movement. See Pleating and Gathering.
• Adds strength. A double (lined) shirt yoke reinforces the shoulders, where a shirt takes the most strain.
• Adds design. Yokes can be cut on a different grain or in contrast fabric. Striped shirt yokes are often cut crossways to the body for effect.

Common kinds of yoke

• Shirt back yoke: across the back shoulders, often doubled (two layers) so the inside is neat.
• Front shoulder yoke: on Western shirts, workwear and some blouses.
• Skirt hip yoke: a fitted band around the hips, with the skirt below it gathered, pleated or flared. A good way to fit a skirt's waist and hips without darts.
• Jeans back yoke: the V-shaped piece across the top of the back pockets.

Sewing a double shirt yoke: the "burrito" method

A double yoke encloses all the seams, with no hand sewing, using a method nicknamed the burrito because the shirt is rolled up inside:

1. Join the back to both yokes. Sew the outer yoke and the inner (lining) yoke to the top of the shirt back in one seam, with the back sandwiched between them: the outer yoke's right side facing the back's right side, and the inner yoke's right side facing the back's wrong side.
2. Roll up the shirt. Lay the yokes out flat and roll the shirt fronts and back up tightly toward the yokes, so the roll sits on the inner yoke.
3. Wrap and match the shoulders. Bring the outer yoke over the roll so its front shoulder edges meet the inner yoke's front shoulder edges, with each shirt front's shoulder edge sandwiched between them in the same way as the back: outer yoke right side to the front's right side, inner yoke right side to the front's wrong side. Pin through all three layers.
4. Sew both shoulder seams through all three layers.
5. Pull the shirt out through the neck opening. All the yoke seams are now enclosed.
6. Press, and topstitch along the yoke seams if you like.

Practise this on a scrap pattern first. It feels impossible until you see it work.

Fitting a yoke

Because the yoke sits closest to the body, it's where shoulder fitting happens on a shirt, and hip fitting on a skirt or jeans. Adjust the yoke for sloping, square or broad shoulders, or for the curve of the hips and seat, before cutting the pieces that hang from it. See Fitting and Alterations.