Sleeves On Saturdays

I recently received this picture from Jenny. She said that she had been shopping, saw this jacket and decided that she could make it. As she looked at it a little more closely, she realized that she was a bit stumped with the pleats. A light bulb went off, "I can ask Rhonda if she'll help!"

Jenny had purchased this pattern as she felt that it would bring her close to the original jacket. I had hoped to find a good raglan sleeve jacket pattern, but I couldn't and so since Jenny already had this pattern, I bought one too. She had thought that the lavender jacket in the lower left hand corner would work. I don't like the fit of the sleeve. That sleeve is a basic dolman sleeve. So rather than that view, I will start with View A which is in the top right hand corner. This jacket has a set in sleeve. Today I am going to lay the foundation for this pattern by showing you how to take a set in sleeve and turn it into a raglan sleeve. 

Raglan sleeves are lovely. They are easy to sew and for many, the fit is better.
The Raglan Sleeve

 Begin with your straight sleeve pattern.

 Match the front bodice to the sleeve at the armpit curve of the sleeve. Where the bodice begins to move away from the sleeve, draw in a guide point. You can see this in red in the above picture. Your mark should be on the sleeve as well as the bodice.

 Do the same to the back.

Draw a guide line at the bicep line of your sleeve. This is the line that connects one armpit to the other on the sleeve. Rest your front and back bodice against your sleeve being careful not to overlap the lines. The guide points should match exactly.

Measure up 1" from the bicep line and mark. At your sleeve cap, draw in a guideline that is parallel to the bicep line. From the edge of your shoulder line on your bodice, measure over 1/2" on the guide line at the top of the cap of your sleeve. Do this on the front as well as the back. Now draw in a curved line as you see above. The line will end at the mark that is 1" from the bicep line. 

On your front and back bodice, measure in from the neckline 1" and draw a straight line to the original guide point. Curves fit the body better especially under the arm so curve this line into the armpit line of the sleeve.

Remove the sleeve pattern from your drafting. Your sleeve will look like the sleeve above.

Remove the front and back bodice from the drafting. Your patterns will look like the patterns above.

The final patterns. I did not add notches on my patterns above, but be sure to add notches so that you can easily match up your patterns.
This is the first step in the drafting of Jenny's jacket. Next Thursday I will show you how to make the pleats in the front of the jacket. I will be making this jacket so I will show my progress along the way. Should be fun!!