The T-Shirt Shawl Pictures

Thanks for all the lovely compliments on the top that I posted yesterday for Fabulous Free Pattern Friday.

Quite a few of you asked to see pictures of me in the top, so I ran down to the fitness center this morning and took a few pictures. It was a toss up between crummy selfy pictures in my room, or crummy selfy pictures in the fitness center. The fitness center won! The pictures are not that great, but at least you can get an idea of how it looks on the body.

You may remember this sleeve that I posted for Sleeves On Saturdays a while back.

I wore the top on Thursday. While shopping, I decided to make use of a large mirror and take a few pictures.

 It has become one of my favorite tops to wear.

So that's it for my crummy picture review ;)
Hope you've had a great day.
Rhonda

Sleeves On Saturdays

The Square Shoulder Sleeve Made Round

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine and I got together to talk about the sleeve that she had made by using the tutorial I did for the sleeve pictured below. You can find the original post here, http://rhondabuss.blogspot.com/2014/03/sleeves-on-saturdays_15.html

The sleeve that I did was exactly like the original Square Shoulder Sleeve with the exception of cutting the pattern apart so that I could manipulate the stripes. My friend asked if it would be okay to round out the center section at the cap. I thought about it and couldn't think of any reason why it shouldn't be done, so I decided to give it a try.

 Below is my sleeve with the cap of the center section rounded off.

 

A close up comparison of the two.

When I initially posted the sleeve, I recommended that you add a small shoulder pad to give a little structure to the top of the sleeve. I started wearing my sleeve without the shoulder pad, only because I wanted to wear the top and I had not gotten around to sewing in the shoulder pads. I'm sure no one else does things like this!!! My friend asked if the center section is rounded would we really need to add the shoulder pad. The shoulder pad holds the shape of the squared aspect of the sleeve and gives  a little more structure to the sleeve. If you would like a softer shape, round the corners as I have done and omit the shoulder pad. I did put a shoulder pad inside the sleeve that I'm showing you today as I don't have a sleeve form to attach to my dress form. The shoulder pad is only intended to mimic the extra width that an arm would give.

Below is the original pattern. 

The side portion of the sleeve will remain the same. The only thing that will change is the center section. Round off the cap area as I have shown below. Once you have drawn in the rounded shape, cut off the pointed edges.   

Once I get the top finished, I'll post it so you can see how the sleeve looks on the body.

Sleeves On Saturdays

This post will be one more visit with the square shoulder sleeve, not so much for drafting, but for design inspiration. The first sleeve I did was the one below which you've seen many times now. The top is sweet and fine for what it is, a pajama top. Other than being an interesting sleeve to draft, it's just a top.

But what if we cut the sleeve pattern apart and use a stripe fabric?

We'll get something that is quite interesting! 

By cutting the pattern apart, we can play with the stripes. The center section has horizontal stripes and the side section has vertical stripes that meet on top of the shoulder. It may hurt your eyes a bit, but I love mixing patterns and manipulating stripes, so this is right up my alley!
                           
I did my best to have the horizontal stripes on the sleeves match the horizontal stripes on the top. I did an okay job :)

I used the free pattern, from Deer and Doe for the base pattern. You can find a link here and see the post I did on the original top that I made for Thrifty Thursday.
You can find the drafting instructions for the square shoulder sleeve here, http://rhondabuss.blogspot.com/2012/05/sleeves-on-saturdays.html
Begin by drafting the sleeve. I made a small change in the drafting of the sleeve above from the original. The extended tabs on the original are 2 5/8" wide. For the stripe top, I made the extended tabs only 1 1/2" wide.

Once you have drafted the sleeve, simply draw a line down from the extended tab to the hem of  the sleeve. This will become a seam line.

 Be sure to add notches so that you will be able to match the correct seam lines when sewing.

The final pattern. Add seam allowances. For sewing instructions of the square shoulder sleeve, see this post, http://www.rhondabuss.blogspot.com/2014/03/sleeves-on-saturdays_8.html

One last note on this sleeve. If you make this sleeve out of a knit fabric as I did, you will need to add a small shoulder pad for structure. If you don't, the sleeve head will lay limp on top of the arm. Notice I said small, we aren't looking for Greta Garbo!!!!, just a nice structured sleeve.
Hope your weekend is off to a great start!
Rhonda

Sleeves On Saturdays

So sorry about being so late today. I bought a beautiful piece of fabric while I was in Seattle to make pillow covers for my sofa. What I thought was going to be a make it in a minute project turned into, I must confess, hours. First of all, I missed calculated on the fabric, so I didn't have enough to cut the front and the back from the same fabric. Okay, make it work, I tried a number of possibilities and then I remember two pieces of beautiful vintage ribbon that a friend had given me. I have searched and searched and searched and I have yet to find the ribbon. It's here, just where??? So, no ribbon and no new pillows. I did find a few things that I had forgotten about and can use, so all is not lost. After my meltdown over my computer issues this week, I am trying to find the positive in all things ;) I said trying!
Today's  post was a request. First of all, my apologies. Too often I assume far more than I should and I rarely explain how to put together the sleeves that I draft for you. It was requested that I explain how to put together the square shoulder sleeve

that I posted here, http://rhondabuss.blogspot.com/2012/05/sleeves-on-saturdays.html.

I decided to begin with this pattern. I could really use a spring summer robe. Look below at the back of the pattern. The long version is called a housecoat, the shorter version is called a brunch coat. I thought that was rather amusing!

I'm using this cotton seersucker fabric. The cotton will be cool in the summer and the seersucker means no ironing. Score!!!

I started with the sleeve from the pattern.

 The sleeve pattern was traced onto a piece of paper.

I removed the seam allowance from the sleeve head and drafted the extensions as directed here, http://rhondabuss.blogspot.com/2012/05/sleeves-on-saturdays.html

Now that the extensions have been drafted, it's time to start adding back the seam allowances. My pattern has 5/8" seam allowances for the armholes, so I added this back to the armhole area.

I added 1/4" seam allowances to the top of the extension. There is no need for a larger seam allowance.

 The top portion of the sleeve will also have a 1/4" seam allowance.

 The seam allowances have all been added and the pattern has been cut out.

 The sleeve has been cut out of the fabric.

 Fold the sleeve in half and match the 2 extensions. Sew together with a 1/4" seam allowance.

Below you can see the sewn 1/4" seam allowance and the notch I made at the center of my sleeve cap.

 Match the center of the seam to the notch.

 Remember that you are sewing a straight edge to a curved edge, so some clipping is in order. Just be careful that you make very small clips since you only have  1/4" seam allowance.

 The extension has been sewn to the cap of the sleeve.

 Looking down on the top of the sleeve.

The extension has been sewn and now we have a nice squared extension to the sleeve. 

Now I need to cut the rest of the "housecoat" and sew it up!
Hope this helps. If there is another sleeve that you would like to see more in depth, please let me know and I will be happy to take it step by step. 

Sleeves On Saturdays

We originally drafted the basic Square Shoulder Sleeve sleeve here, http://rhondabuss.blogspot.com/2014/02/sleeves-on-saturdays_22.html. It's a lovely sleeve that gives a very tailored look to a garment. The original sleeve that I did was for a pajama top. Nothing like looking tailored when you're off to bed!!!

We did a second version of the sleeve by adding pin tucks. 

This particular sleeve has the possibility for many design combinations. Today we are going to add gathers to the center section.

The sleeve continues to have a tailored look, but has a softer feel with the addition of the gathers.

Adding the gathers is quite simple to do.
Begin with the basic square shoulder sleeve pattern.

Draw a guideline on your paper. Cut the sleeve down the center and spread equally on either side of the guideline. I spread my sleeve a total of 3", 1 1/2" on either side of the guideline.

The final pattern. Do not add height to the center sleeve section. We are only looking for the softness that the gathers will give and not a puffy look like you would get on a regular gathered sleeve head.

This sleeve would look beautiful on everything from a silk blouse to a robe. Maybe I should make a robe to go with my pajamas!! Actually, that might be quite nice!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Rhonda