Sleeves On Saturdays

So sorry about missing last week's Sleeves On Saturdays post. Just a little more on my plate than I could handle last week.

This week's sleeve is really a part 2 of The Epaulet Sleeve that we did here. What we will be doing today is adding darts to the epaulet. This is a wonderful sleeve for a more tailored look. It is beautiful in a jacket as it gives a very square appearance to the shoulder.

The sleeve works best with a shoulder pad or interfacing added to the shoulder and the extended pleated area.

 The Pleated Epaulet Sleeve

Refer to the Epaulet Sleeves instructions here for the original basic shape of this sleeve. 

Once you have drafted the basic epaulet sleeve, square a line at the bicep as you see above.

 Extend the lines of the extension to the bicep line. These lines will be squared off the bicep line.

Measure down 3" on both sides of the underarm seam and connect back to the extended lines from the epaulet as you see above.

 Find the midpoint between the epaulet line and the bicep line and connect as you see above.

Now the fun begins! I have included the above picture to show you the lines that you will be cutting on. You can see that the center section is separated from the original sleeve. 

 On a separate piece of paper, draw a vertical line. This will be a guide line.

Place the sleeve that has been cut on the guide line. Spread the epaulet section 1 1/4" to 1 3/4" from the bicep line. The more you spread, the more extended the sleeve will be and the larger the shoulders will appear. The sleeve cap will be spread 1 1/4" to 1 3/4" from the epaulet section as you see above. Whatever you spread from the bicep line, you will also spread at the cap of the sleeve.  

Above is the final pattern. To find the points of your pleats, measure down the same amount that you spread the cap and epaulet sections, in my case 1 1/4". Also measure in the same amount from the edge of the sleeve cap. Mark with a dot as you see above. This will aide in sewing the cap of your sleeve. Add your seam allowances and you are ready to go!

I've included the above picture to show you just how much the cap changes on this sleeve.

 For sewing the sleeve, you can see the shoulder seam as well as a portion of the cap seam above.

 This is the other side of the seam. You can see the pleat on the edge.

 A close up of the pleated area.

The final sleeve. Once I have my top finished, I'll show you the entire top. As I said, this is a favorite of mine and I hope you will give it a try.