Monday 27 August 2018

sleeve fix

I have a blouse I made from a lovely linen/rayon combo fabric. From Jeff Rosenberg one time at Festival of Quilts.
I tried out something different for the style/pattern. Which works fine for the body, but the arms have been too tight.

So, I got the bright idea a little while ago to give myself some breathing space by adapting the sleeves to be the 'cold shoulder' style that is in current fashion.
I cut off the cuff (already cut in the above photo)
and pressed a crease where I wanted to cut.
Then I did a narrow hem on the edges of the cut.
I had measured my arm (again) and thought the bottom of the sleeve would still be tight. So I made some faux bow extensions.

I still had the 2 buttons from the cuffs, so those were sewn at the top of the slit to give a bit of security in case of situations like catching the sleeve on the door handle. Not that it would ever happen...

and then sewed the extensions in place.
Looks good.

Now to try it on.

Oh. Somehow now, it hits my 'elbow pit'. So, it is more than big enough.
In fact, I could just over lap the edges and stitch them down.

pinned here. Hard to do arm selfies.

So, I will. But, do I leave it at that or do I move the button down to that spot? If so, do I risk the top of the slit getting torn? or do I secure it in some way with something that blends in easier? I haven't got anymore of the buttons.
any ideas?

4 comments:

kathy loomis said...

do you have enough fabric to make a tab that you could sew across the top as a reinforcement? If it is two thicknesses, and stitched across a couple of times, that would keep the top of the slit from ripping open. (Much like you stitch triangles at the corners of shirt pockets for reinforcement.)

and if you don't have enough fabric, you could use another fabric in similar color except sew the tab on the underside of the slit.
then you can use the bottom someplace else

Sandy said...

Oh, ok. I can sew a tab on the top part, and put the button on the bottom overlap. There is room to add the button as the join in stead of the ribbon.
Thanks!
Sandy

Mary in Peoria Handmade said...

I like the button at the top- smart idea to make the sleeve larger.

LA Paylor said...

great fix! The selfie worked