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Sleeving on a jet plane

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 12:11 am
by Ralph
Any tips on making sleeve construction painless? I have an outfit that has flimsy lace sleeves which inevitably started to tear over the years. I figured, rather than patch up the old ones -- I never cared that much for lace anyway -- just cut out a new sleeve and sew it on.

I know the basic idea of a sleeve -- a tapered rectangle with a parabola at the top (wide end) so you have room for shoulder movement. But I have *NO* idea how to shape that shoulder part. Too much curve, and I end up with gigantic poofy sleeves... which I may eventually want to learn how to do, but would not be appropriate here. Too little, and it binds against my shoulder so I can never move my arm from back to front.

Any tips on what to measure, how much extra room to allow, etc.?

Re: Sleeving on a jet plane

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 12:21 am
by crfriend
Ralph wrote:Any tips on making sleeve construction painless? I have an outfit that has flimsy lace sleeves which inevitably started to tear over the years. I figured, rather than patch up the old ones -- I never cared that much for lace anyway -- just cut out a new sleeve and sew it on.
Since you're deconstructing the garment in the first place, do so gently with a seam-ripper instead of scissors, and then use the resulting pieces of fabric as the pattern. With luck, the lace isn't in such bad shape that its original dimensions cannot be ascertained.
[...]Too much curve, and I end up with gigantic poofy sleeves... which I may eventually want to learn how to do, but would not be appropriate here.
Take a squint at some of the later bits in my "Pics and Looks" thread. There is some serious puff there (not to mention ruffle).

Re: Sleeving on a jet plane

Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2014 11:52 am
by Jack Williams
Yes, sleeves are not easy to do. ALWAYS use a stitch ripper, then you cannot go wrong.
The lace ones would make a good pattern, and you could then see if you want more length or width for instance and make adjustments from there.
You may be able to rescue sleeves from someting else too.