Sleeves On Saturdays

Once again, I'm late, but hopefully I'll make up for my lateness with this wonderful sleeve.

 Just to refresh your memory, I'm using Butterick 5678 for the collars that I have been doing for Sew News.

I decided to combine the weekly collar and the sleeve posts so that I'm making just 1 garment rather than 2. Just call me lazy!!!
So yes, the base pattern for the dress is the above shirt pattern.

The sleeve is a very feminine sleeve. This would also look great on a t-shirt or even a short sleeve summer jacket. If you look closely at the picture below, you can see that the princess line seam has been moved to the shoulder. The pleated sleeve actually lays over the arm.

To execute this sleeve, begin with the center front, center back, side front and side back pattern pieces. I am only showing the center front and the side front for sake of space.

In order to move the princess line seam to the shoulder, we need to move the dart. In a princess line seam, it looks like there is no dart, but there is, we are just sewing the dart as though it is a seam.
Place the center front pattern piece against the side front pattern piece as you see in the picture below. Please remove the seam allowance from the original pattern before you begin drafting. This will save many headaches in the end.

Now, draw in the princess line to the shoulder edge as you see below.

Cut apart the center front from the side front being sure to include the new princess line in the center front pattern piece. You can see in the picture below how the dart has now been moved.

 You may need to draw in a straight shoulder line as I did.

The final pattern. Be sure to transfer notches and the grainline. Also be sure to add seam allowance. You will do exactly the same thing to the center back and the side back pattern pieces.

To draft the sleeve, you will need to begin by drawing a vertical line on your paper. Match the center of your sleeve to this vertical line. Now take the side front and the side back pattern pieces and place them against the sleeve as you see below. The dotted line will be the new shape of the sleeve. The line is about 2" down from the top of the sleeve and 1 1/2" from the underarm. This should be a smooth curved line.

On either side of the center line, draw in 4 sections. Be sure to number the sections.

 Continue the curved line that you drew in for the sleeve onto the side seam.

 Cut the front away from the back on the dotted lines.

 Cut the numbered sections to but not through the side seam. Now spread those sections. I spread mine 2" in each section.

 Now fold the pleats in and cut a smooth line.

 Open up the pleats.

Be sure to transfer the pleat lines to your final pattern by placing notches that correspond to where the sections were slashed and spread.

 You will also need to add a dot to the side seam that will tell you where to stop sewing.

 The final pattern.

When sewing the sleeve area, you will also sew the top portion of the sleeve at the shoulder. Sew from the shoulder down approximately 3".

 

When I drafted the top of my dress, I left my muslin long enough so I could mark my waist. Once I marked my waist, I added seam allowance and then added a 1/2 circular skirt to the bodice. To draft a 1/2 circular skirt, see this post, http://rhondabuss.blogspot.com/2011/08/fabulous-free-pattern-fridaysthe.html.
The collar that I drafted for this dress is a fairly basic shawl collar. This will be this week's collar for Sew News. As soon as the Sew News post is up, I'll let you know.

You may have noticed that I have not hemmed the dress. The reason for this is that the fabric is linen and linen can stretch quite a bit on the bias. So I am allowing the skirt to hang for 48 hours before I hem it. The rule for any type of circular skirt is to allow it to hang at least 24 hours before hemming it. Sometimes they need more time. I would rather let it hang a little longer than hem it twice!!
Now a question for you. I had planned to make a belt. Originally I was going to make a 2" wide belt, but then I went and put those large buttons on the dress. So what do you think, should I go ahead and make the wide belt, or should I do a narrow belt, or last choice, a tie belt?