Sleevil Help

[theladyrebecca]

I have sleevil problems. Please help me! All my pictures of where I am right now are under the cut, but basically, I've made three different sleeves so far. The first one was a three piece sleeve with a pouf on top of a two-piece sleeve. I hated it, so I scrapped it. Number 2 is a standard two piece sleeve with a gathered head, but it's pulling weirdly near the back of the armpit. Number 3 is just a one-piece sleeve with a gathered head, though it (like #2) is being very pointy up by the gathers.



The right side: aka sleeve #3, the one piece sleeve


The left side: aka sleeve #2, the two piece sleeve


And here you can see how ridiculously pointy the poufs are right now.


My main questions are, how to I get rid of the pointy gathers up at the top, and, if I go with the two piece sleeve, what do I do to make it stop pulling at the back of the armpit?

Comments

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

what you need to do is undo your stitching on the top side of the sleeve, and while wearing it, ease it into the shoulder seam until it's not pointy.
You might need a partner to help you.
I'm also concerned about the strange curl at your collar/upper breast area on your bodice...? but maybe this is a case of you not wearing a corset and the bodice is fit to your corset?

[theladyrebecca.livejournal.com]

Don't worry - the bodice part fits. I was just lazy and wasn't wearing a corset. And I only fastened a couple buttons. I still need to add two more buttons on, as well.

[katexxxxxx.livejournal.com]

Is it supposed to fit smoothly into the armscye, or is it supposed to be gathered? If smooth, then you have too much ease over the sleeve head, and need to reduce that. You need a maximum of 1" ease over the sleeve head, in a wool coat. Less on things like cotton weave with little or no give in them, and tightly woven silks. Measure the armscye sleeve line and add a maximum of 3/4" to this to give you the sleeve head seamline measurement. I find a 'bendy curve' useful for doing this.

I'd also add a little ease to the sleeve width as it seems to be pulling round the shoulder point and bicep.

I'd make up a sleeve on the pattern you have, reducing the ease over the sleeve head to about 3/4", baste it into the armscye and then slit it from elbow to shoulder seam. Let it settle and measure the gap. This will tell you the MINIMUM ease you need to add. I always add a quarter inch more to be safe and comfortable. To add the ease without adding to the sleeve head again, slash the pattern from sleeve head to elbow, just to the seam line. Clip from the outside almost to the seam line, leaving a 'hinge'. Do the same across the pattern at the under arm line. Now spread it out on another sheet of paper, and smoosh the pattern out, opening up a diamond shaped hole in the middle the width of your required additional ease plus a bit. Tape the pattern down to the paper round the hole and true up the seams. Make up another toile sleeve to test fit, and refine this if you need to.

You can do this with any pattern, even a two piece, as most of the additional ease round the bicep will need to go into the upper sleeve.

Hope this helps, and isn't too teachery!

[theladyrebecca.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't know why I didn't do slash and spread in the first place, since that's what I usually do. I guess I just didn't know where to start with a two piece sleeve? But thank you!

[centuriessewing.livejournal.com]

I'm taking a quick look at the screen caps from the movie since I never saw it.

It looks like she has a faintly Edwardian poof going on. I agree with Kate you need a bit more ease in the bicep area.

hopefully this link works, http://books.google.com/books?id=lDy97wd0Cn4C&lpg=PA72&ots=JpJ6jGvOYs&dq=sleeve%20with%20enlarged%20top&pg=PA75#v=onepage&q=sleeve%20with%20enlarged%20top&f=false

Diagram 28 shows a draft for a sleeve with an enlarged top from the turn of the century. I'd run more then one row of gathering stitches along it to help control where the pleats go and pad out the sleeve head. Also notice the diagram almost has a built in gore at the back which might help with the pulling at the back of the arm.

It is a bit hard to tell but can you comfortably raise your arms without the bodice shifting upwards?

[theladyrebecca.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! That diagram is soo helpful (I'm a visual person). I'll try drafting a new sleeve based on that one tonight.

[centuriessewing.livejournal.com]

Np! Also if you have patterns of fashion 2 there are a few huge puffed sleeves to look at for ideas.

[chocolatepot.livejournal.com]

I agree with centuriessewing - more ease in general might help. From looking at caps on Google, there's a fairly defined poof at the shoulder. I think sleeve 2 might be the easier one to modify.