Monday, February 14, 2011

An Update on the Sleeves - B5454

It dawned on my that the problem with my sleeves may be because I widened the back armhole!  Also Faye was kind enough to point me in the direction of Power Sewing and Sandra Betzina's notion that many commercial sewing patterns have too much sleeve cap ease.  I think I have a solution, but it will have to wait until the next muslin. (Yep, I've decided to make two. This is why I love $3 fabric.)

In the meantime, I not clear on Betzina's instructions. Here's where I'm confused:

Draw three vertical lines from the sleeve cap to the hem leaving a 1/4" hinge at the bottom sleeve edge.  
Huh? The way I take that is to draw the lines from the top of the sleeve cap to the hem line and then cut 1/4" slits into the pattern from the bottom. However, the picture shows the vertical lines running the entire length of the pattern piece.
Cut the sleeve apart and overlap the pieces.
Cut from the top of the pattern to the hinge? Faye, if you and any other readers can explain this so that I understand, please help.

Here are two other resources I found:


Y'all know I'm special ed when it comes to sewing, so of the three above solutions, only crimping is making sense to me right now. I'm wondering if it will work on knits.




2 comments:

Faye Lewis said...

To explain the Betzina method in my own words: cut three vertical lines (after drawing them on the pattern) from the top of the sleeve down to 1/4" (which is your hinge)at the bottom of the sleeve. The hinge leaves something to hang onto I guess so you don't end up pulling the entire sleeve apart.
After the three lines have been cut, overlap (taking up the amount of ease that you have determined is excess) and then tape it back into place and tape.
I swear to you it works, especially with knits.
Sewing with the sleeve against the feeddogs also helps ease in excess fabric (as long as it is not too much to start with).

NuJoi said...

Got it! Thanks