You Give Me Butterflies -- and Not in a Good Way

Pure adrenaline and novice enthusiasm must have helped me get that first sleeve in. On the second sleeve, I had a lot of trouble just pinning from the underarm to the first notch in the front. I steamed it again. I did some hand gathering stitches. That area is supposed to be 1:1. There was at least an extra 1/2" there now. What happened?

Of course the culprits were the lovely changes I made to the armscye.  The pink line is the original sleeve seam line. The aqua line is the armscye seam line after all my alterations. Aren't these supposed to match from underarm to the notch? Well, they did on the back, so I figured they should do so on the front too. The sleeve from underarm to notch was 3/4" longer than the armscye! So much for 1:1.  

                                        

I had a feeling this would happen. I'd even started a secret board on Pinterest for sleeve alterations. However, my eyes glaze over whenever I read the articles. One day, this will make perfect sense. Right now, it's all Greek to me. I was really hoping that Craftsy would come through and put the sleeve-drafting class on sale, but no luck. I think I'll ask them. Pastor always says that you have not because you ask not :-)

So with great trepidation, I attempted to draw a new curve. Whenever I do this, I always feel like I should have paid more attention in geometry. My pattern alterations make me so nervous because the altered pieces look, at least to me, weird compared to the originals. I guess if they didn't, I wouldn't need the alteration. I'll take some comfort in that thought.

So here's where I ended up.

                                       

I am so nervous that I had to blog before cutting it out of fabric! This dress has to be finished by next Tuesday and I haven't even gotten to the skirt. Butterflies be gone! I've got work to do.

Wish me luck!

Set It Off

Peeps, that's not bad for a rookie :-) That's machine-basted. Yeah, the basting threads are still there. This is on Ruby, who is now a few sizes smaller than me, but you get the point.

The front

The back

A tight shot of the shoulder, where my seam matching is not the greatest. I forgot to check how I did at the underarm.

Much love, again, to Craftsy! Linda Lee's Ultimate Guide to Sewing Knit Fabrics was on constantly. I must have have watch the part about setting in a sleeve a gazillion times. I guess I should write my review of the class soon.

I wish I had time to try it on me, but work got in the way (gotta keep the funding going for fabric). I'll probably wait until I get the other sleeve basted in. I'm still pleased because I set in a sleeve today :-)

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:

• Crimping technique in Singer's Time Saving Sewing it's also in The Complete Book of Sewing Shortcuts, but I need the picture from the Singer Book.
• Tutorial from Made by Monet

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.

It's a Miracle!

Look at what a good press will do! No puckers. Yea!!!! I had pressed the sleeves and decided to try and salvage the neckline. Look at what happened. Woo Hoo!

Back to the sleeves. I realized I need to sew very slowly. My lead foot is not welcomed while sewing. Even still, I ended up with this:

After pressing, I still see puckers, so I'm going to press again. I just had to stop and share my neckline joy.