Project 16, part 2 – I Actually Patterned This Time (Part 1 here)
Welcome back to Mukashi no Sewing! This week I got the patterning done for the sleeves on my blouse from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright, and it was not as hard as I feared! 🙂 I started by tracing one of the sleeves from my donor blouse onto folded paper. I already knew that these sleeves were much wider at the top than the armholes for the BtSSB blouse, but I wanted to start from the baseline. I included the lace in my trace because I can hem up to whatever length I want later.
I measured the width of the MAM sleeve at the cuff point, and then the diameter of my armhole – precisely a 1″ difference! So I took a half inch off either side at the top and just freehand graded the difference down until it met the original width at about the halfway point.
I cut out the paper pattern, and – just to be on the safe side – I checked to make sure my math wasn’t off and that it would in fact fit in the black armhole. 😀
Next, I grabbed my trusty bolt of muslin and cut out a cloth mockup. I stitched both sides closed, and then pinned the test sleeve into the BtSSB blouse to see how it looked!
Whoa! Basically got it in one. 😀 I want the sleeve a little straighter as it emerges from the armhole so I’ll grade that in a bit more toward the top. I think the length is about right – with hemming the sleeve will hit around the middle of my hand, and then the added lace will take it back to the knuckles or fingertips which is the look I’m going for.
I partially disassembled the sleeve, leaving the seam that was at the top of my arm intact so that when I cut from the actual fabric it will be one solid piece with a single seam on the underside. I did forget to add allowance at the top, so there will be another two inches of fabric there in the final version. This will allow me to enclose the top in a wide French seam which will make it sturdier for the buttonholes. I’m not entirely sure what the easiest way to do those will be – I would love to be able to make them with the fabric flat like this, but I have a sneaking suspicion I’ll have to assemble the sleeve so I can accurately mark their locations. We shall see! 😀
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