Red coat part 4 Sleeve insertion and book recommendation

It is worth getting the sleeves inserted well, a poorly inserted sleeve shouts home made to me! 

When the  long under sleeve seam is stitched, the seam needs pressing open and then an extra press on the right side with the clapper to get a flat sleeve seam. The sleeve board is useful for this, but a sleeve pressing roll could be used instead. 

Now to prepare the sleeve for a perfect fit in the armhole. Time taken on the preparation of the sleeve fit  will pay dividends. I make 2 rows of machine stitching, I used stitch size 4, one just inside the stitching line and one about 1/4 inch further to the edge . These 2 rows reach between the two small circles marked on a pattern around the top of the sleeve and bodice pattern pieces. 

I then measure the length this needs to be around the front and back bodice separately and pull up the threads around the sleeve top to match, distributing any small gathers evenly. It is essential to measure the back and front of the sleeves separately so the shoulder seam will sit at the centre mark of the sleeve so the sleeve hangs correctly when inserted. 

Before steam 

Now the gathers can be ‘shrunk away’ before they go near the armhole. I have found this works brilliantly. I use my ‘wet Handkerchief’ technique to get plenty of steam and then use the tip of the iron over a silk pressing cloth using the ham to shape the sleeve over. 

After steaming it will look like this 

And when in the coat like this, ie no gathers at all. 

Once the sleeve has been inserted I trim the seam allowance back and then stitch all round with a zig zag stitch  on the main sewing machine. To me, this is safer than using the overlocker and blade there! 

The bottom of the sleeve can be tacked up and given the normal double press. At this stage I do not stitch it. 

The sleeve  lining can be made ready for insertion, ie the long sleeve seam stitched and pressed open. 

The sleeve lining length is then calculated, it needs to join the bottom of the sleeve about 2 cm up from the sleeve edge on the Harris Tweed that is turned up. I found it useful to pull the actual  sleeve inside out and use a coloured thread to tack on this 2 cm line.  I then use  a different colour to tack on what will be the bottom edge of the lining (ie 2 cm shorter than the sleeve seam length.  Once these tacking lines are matched up, they can be pinned at right angles to the edge and then a line of machine stitching is made to join the lining and the sleeve. If you have not done this before, I suggest a ‘dry run’! Once stitched and trimmed the lining and sleeve are pulled through so the sleeve is the right way out and a very net line is made, no stitching showing, for the junction  with the lining. In this way there is no hem stitching needed for the sleeve. 

At this stage do not stitch  the lining to the armhole yet. 

The other book I always  use when constructing a jacket or coat is this one by Claire Shaeffer. 

It covers:

A particularly useful section is on p 142-3 and I made the sleeve rolls / heads based on this 

sleeve head in construction and ready to insert  

 

These are working well in the coat. (I often make a smaller one for a dress and on occasion a blouse as they work so well supporting the sleeve.)

The sleeve heads can be inserted at any point from now on 

Sleeves too long -a refit needed

Are we evolving shorter arms? It might seem so if you've tried to buy a jumper or cardigan recently! From talking to friends it's just not me who seems to have shrinking arms. The problem is made worse by the fact that if a jumper is of synthetic construction then the sleeves are likely to stretch even more during its life.
I recently measured the sleeves on such a jumper and found they were 4” inches too long.
Permanent action was needed.
So I decided to shorten the sleeves and make a feature of them.

The buttons match the ones on the shoulder.
So this has turned from an irritating jumper into one that I love!
I hope this has given you some ideas for any re- fitting needed in your wardrobe. Let's just have clothes that we love and that love us!

If you're short on ideas for your wardrobe challenges you could fix up a session with me for some practical solutions.

Flower dress stage 4 ; the construction

The stitching of the dress went to plan; the hem was a challenge, to make it not too stretchy or too tight. In the end I decided on hand stitching.

Particular things that were helpful:
My amazing body duplicate model that makes fitting a dress a dream, I wouldn’t be without it. Every time I see a manikin for sale I want to go and put a little not on it and say don’t buy one – unless you are that identical shape- and who is? I have not yet met anyone….

Putting in a sleeve head, this makes such a difference to the hang of any sleeve. The ones in this dress I made from a thin piece of padding that I teased out to what I judged to be the right thickness.I then covered each with dress material (the cream background) allowing this to hang over the filling.
Inside the sleeve head

I then hand stitched these in.

This is the finished dress, but it is missing something!

The next and last posting about this will be a photo of me in the dress and why I love it so…

Coat Stage 6 – Inserting the sleeves

Poorly inserted sleeves can let down the finish of a garment, so I always take a lot of trouble with them!

I decided to shrink the top of the sleeves before inserting them into the coat bodice.
This is what the top of the sleeve looked like before shrinking

..and this is the top of the sleeve after shrinking

Sleeves inserted, The next stage is to make the sleeve heads and insert these. I used wadding sandwiched between silk as the lining.

I am very pleased with professional finish achieved.

I find it is always worth this effort this when inserting sleeves.

The sleeve lining is bound to the coat by hand at the armholes.