Drafting sleeve patterns

I've been messing around with drafting sleeve patterns. I even drew up quite a number of different designs, around 12 at last count, back in January. 

I made up a few of them as isolated samples, and that's how far I got. I only did a set of two cowl sleeves in a blue fabric I had from a fabric swap (love the colour of the fabric, thank you so much to whoever donated it!), but I have not decided yet what bodice pattern I want for this top. I'll Frankenpattern the needed armhole onto whatever bodice pattern I go for.

The other blouse I started at the beginning of the year was a Lekala pattern using the black and white colour way of a lovely Rose and Hubble fabric I got from Pound Fabrics. Unfortunately I did not do a muslin to check if the armhole goes with my sleeve template - it does not. So I will need to adjust the sleeve slightly. That might not be too much of a problem, but again, I have not decided on what sleeve design I want. I am waiting for inspiration to strike.

Now that we have November (where did the time disappear to?) I though I'd post at least some of my sleeve drafts. Perhaps this will inspire me to continue with either the cowl top or the Rose and Hubble sleeves.

I like this design - a tab gathers the horizontally folded fabric and pulls it into a bow. You could even have a press stud at one end so you can iron the sleeve flat and only gather the bow after pressing. It would be very practical.

The arrow I drew onto the lozenge* shaped bit indicates that you need to fold up the lower edge of the lozenge and align it with its top edge. The top end of the tab gets sewn into the fold, perhaps a little higher than my dotted line in the above photo.  You can stay-stitch the relevant sleevehead edge inside the seam allowance to keep the fold in place before sewing into the armhole. 

The self facing at the bottom is folded up inside for a neat hem finish.

And this is what a sample of this sleeve design looks like:

I am really enjoying this shape though I don't know just yet what it will look like when worn. Will the gathering tab look too prominent, too centered, too high?  It will be interesting to try out.

I suppose that there is no dire need to center it exactly, it could move a little towards the front or even the back. Once made up as a blouse I would like some photos to be taken so I can see what this looks like from an objective distance. Just checking the mirror does not give all the useful information you want to evaluate a style.

Please wish me luck that I will sew up a blouse with this sleeve design soon, or one of the other two I mentioned above. It would be so nice for my sewing motivation to come unstuck. Well, if not this year, then 2023 is 12 months long, surely I'll make some progress eventually.

*: Strictly speaking the shape I'm talking about could be called an elongated hexagon. I like lozenge, but this shape is obviously a stretched-out one. I hope you know what I mean.

Trying Out a Free Pattern- Earn Your Stripes Breton Tee (dress hack)

This is a free downloadable pdf pattern, designed by Claire-Louise Hardie, available from Love Sewing magazine website.  The pattern is for a fairly loose fit tee shirt with an option of ¾ or full length sleeves.  It has dropped shoulders and a neckband.  I chose to use the pattern as a basis for a dress. The fabric required is a jersey fabric with at least 20% stretch.   The link to download  this pattern  here.

There are no making up instructions with this pattern  but it follows the usual method of sewing together for this type of tee shirt. I have given very brief instructions in the Making Up section below.

Printing and assembling the pattern. The only option for printing out is using A4 format and it takes 18 sheets for the pattern itself (see below).  The sheet illustrated shows the order of assembly of the pdf.  It is necessary to trim the sheets where indicated to fit the pattern together.

The test square is on sheet 1, the finished back lengths of the tee shirt on sheet 7 and the finished bust measurements on sheet 9.  Seam allowances are included in the pattern.

Sizes and Alterations.  This pattern comes in 8 sizes from  32" to 46" bust (pattern size 8 to 22), the pattern ease is 3 inches on all sizes.  Hip size is not given as this pattern is for a top.  My bust size falls between 8 and 10 and I opted for size 10 as I wanted a loose fit. There is a lengthen and shorten line on the front and back pieces and to turn this into a dress I just extended the line of the pattern straight down from here until it reached my desired length.

Making Up.  This can be sewn up on an overlocker or a sewing machine with a zigzag stitch or stretch stitch capacity.  I used a sewing machine.  The order of construction is (briefly) -  1. Sew the shoulder seams, I added stay tape to the shoulder seams as I usually do with a stretch fabric. 2. Join the ends of the neckband and fold it in half and attach to the neck with a 1 cm seam allowance.  The neckband seam sits at the centre back. and you use the quartering method to fit the neckband to the neck. If you don't know the quartering method here is a short video about it plus a tip on reducing bulk at the back seam of the neckband. 3. Attach the sleeves by the flat method and sew up the side seams.  Helen's Closet has a tutorial on her blog for this method here.  4. Hem the sleeves and bottom of the garment  using a twin needle or zigzag stitch.

Verdict.  This was very quick and easy to make.  With hindsight if I make this again (and I may well do so) I will make the size 8 as I needed to take in the side seams of the bodice and upper arms but I am rather flat chested and have no biceps to speak of.  I also have no curves to my hips and extending the top straight down to create a dress worked well for me but those with more curves to the hips may want to flare the shape out a bit more.  I used some jersey fabric that I got in Brighton at the Fabricland closing down sale last year and it was perfect for this, soft, light and cosy.  I could certainly wear this during three of the four seasons with additions of thick tights and a cardigan when the cold demands it.  I added an extra 2 inches to the long sleeve length of the pattern so I could pull the sleeves down and keep my hands a bit warmer but can push the sleeves up if I don't need this.  I might make a tie belt and blouse the dress over the belt for a shorter length in the Spring but, at the moment, I want to wear it long.

And so to finish with another picture of myself being blown by the wind and trying to keep my hair out off my face - -

Trying out a Free Pattern - Low Rise Knickers in Woven Fabric

 

This is a free downloadable pattern from a rather strange website sew-ing.com/make

 It appears to be Japanese in origin and the translation into English is not very good but is adequate.  There are instructions for making some unusual items, including a Strawberry Cream Cake in Felt  and cat lovers should check out the Cat Pouch.  If you explore the website you will find different varieties of patterns for knickers, mostly for women but some for men and children, in both woven and stretch fabrics.  The link to the pattern for the type of knickers (or panties if you prefer) that I made is here 

The reason behind my trying out this pattern was that I wanted to find a pattern for items that I actually needed that could be made with small (i.e. under a metre) left over scraps from dressmaking projects .  This pattern was designed to be made using a man's size handkerchief 43 centimetre square  but can be made with any light weight cotton.  There are a number of free knicker patterns available for use with suitable stretch fabric, such as light weight cotton t-shirting, but I didn't have any such left overs that were not already earmarked for clothing for toddlers.  I did have lightweight woven cotton scraps so I was looking for knicker patterns using woven fabrics .  I have tried to make a pair of knickers in cotton from an independent commercial pattern but my sewing of the elastic directly on to the fabric, by stretching the elastic to fit the fabric as I sewed, left a lot to be desired and was uneven.  I was therefore delighted to find this pattern, designed for woven fabric,  where the elastic was threaded through a channel at the waist and legs but, if you wished, there was no need to put elastic on the legs.  This latter was the option that I went for.  

 

Printing and Assembling the Pattern.  There are only two pages to print out on A4 paper.  However you should be aware that the pattern is scaled at 96% and so comes up very slightly smaller than actual size.  I couldn't work out any way of printing it out at 100% with the equipment I had available. You have to add seam allowances yourself, 1 to 1.5 centimetres is recommended for the waist and 0.7 to 1 cm for the other seams and edges.  If you want to add elastic to the legs then I would suggest allowing at least 1 cm here. 

Sizes, Alterations and Style Options. The pattern only comes in size 90 cm hips because they are designed to be cut from a large men's size handkerchief and you cannot cut a size larger than that from the handkerchief  However you can use any suitable weight fabric and I went for my first pair to some cotton left over from making a child's sundress.  

 The photograph above shows the amount of fabric that I had compared to a man's handkerchief. The knickers can be made smaller, as I did, by shaving the necessary amount off the side seams.  To make them larger you could add to the side seams or follow the suggestions on the website to insert some lace or add side ties.  It is suggested that you cut the pattern pieces on the bias, which will allow some give to the fabric.  If you are using a handkerchief then you have to cut on the bias but, if you wish, you can cut on the straight grain.  I opted to cut on the bias. 

You have two basic style options.  You can cut the front all in one piece in which case your pattern pieces will look like this when you have cut them out, a front and back piece and a gusset and gusset lining.

 The second option is to cut a central panel for the front on the straight grain so that you can insert a   trim, use a contrast fabric or play with cutting the pieces in different pattern directions.  For this option you need to create a centre panel by cutting on the lines marked on the front pattern piece and remember to add seam allowances to the resulting panel and the side pieces.  Your pattern pieces will then look like this.

 Making Up.  I had some cotton lace insertion left from trimming a blouse so I used this to trim this pair.  Here's how the front looks after sewing the front pieces together sandwiching the insertion between the seams.

Sewing together is very easy.  Just sew up the side seams, I used french seams.  How to sew the two gusset pieces to the front and back is shown clearly on the sew-ing website.  The raw top and leg edges are then finished by overlocking or zigzag stitching, and the edges turned over to form a channel and stitched down leaving a gap where necessary to thread the elastic through.  As you can see from the first picture on this post I chose to embellish the legs of two pairs with lace.  With the blue spotted pair I had a small amount of narrow pale blue lace, it fitted the bill so exactly that I had just 2 centimetres left after sewing it on.

Verdict.  I am, once more, pleased with the result from a free download.  These knickers are exactly the same shape as some RTW ones that I have.  They are very comfortable to wear and I think they look attractive.  Only a small amount of fabric is required, you could even cut each piece in a differently   patterned fabric of the same weight if you wanted to use up your smallest scraps.  I shall certainly be making some more of these, in fact I already am!

 

Trying out a Free Pattern- Knee Length Tulip Skirt with Feature Pockets

 This is another pattern from Sew Magazine available as a pdf.  It is described on their website as a "Simple Knee Length Skirt" and also, on the pdf pattern piece layout( see picture below), as the Barkside Skirt but I think the title of this blog gives a more accurate description. This is the link

 

 Printing and assembling the pattern  For review I am trying to choose easily available patterns without a hugh number of pages to print out, this one takes 12 pages of A4 for the pattern itself.  The link will take you to a page with the making up instructions.  When you click the download button you will get access to more than one pattern and, for this skirt, you need to scroll to Pages 25 to 37.  Page 25 shows the way that the pdf needs to be assembled.  Pages 26 to 37 are the pages you will need to print for the pattern.

Usually, with pdf patterns, there is a square of 10 centimetres at the beginning of the printout with which to check the accuracy of the printing.  There is none here, though you are advised to set your printer to print to "Actual Size".  My printer does not print right to the edges and it appeared to me that the pattern pages needed to be placed edge to edge.  There is no indication on the pattern which size is which or which pocket position marking relates to which size; you have to work this out for yourself but it is not a taxing task.

Sizes and Alterations  There are only three sizes, these are waist sizes- 68, 72 & 76 centimetres.  However it would be easy to grade the skirt up or down a couple of sizes.  I decreased the size of the waistband by 4 centimetres but left the body of the skirt as is since the skirt is gathered into the waistband and I thought that leaving the skirt pieces as they were would accentuate the tulip shape.  The pocket and flaps are the same for all sizes so do not require alteration.  I added 12.5 centimetres to the length of the skirt so that it fell just below my knee.  To do this I drew a line across the front and back pieces 5 centimetres above the hemline, cut across, inserted the requisite addition and redrew the side seams from below the pocket position to the hemline (see image below of the back piece).

Making up  The process is not difficult.  The pockets are sewn up first.  They are lined, each pocket consists of a pocket bag and a pocket flap and the corresponding linings.

 The flap is made up by laying the flap pieces right sides together and sewing a 5 mm seam around 3 sides leaving the long straight side open.  The flap is then turned right side out and pressed.  The open side of the flap is placed between the marked notches on the straight side of the pocket bag and the pocket lining placed over the flap.

The straight side with the pocket flap and the curved side are then stitched and the pocket turned through one of the two openings so it looks like this:-
 

The pockets are then placed, matching them to the markings at the waist edge, on the front of the skirt.  The concealed zip is  inserted and the front and back skirt pieces joined together.

I was puzzled by the method of adding the waistband to the top of the skirt, which is gathered to fit, so I followed my own method.  I had decided that I would do some quilting on the waistband, backing it with wadding between the main fabric and the lining.  It is quite wide and I thought that the wadding would make it stand up firmly.  It should be cut on the straight grain but I cut on the cross grain to contrast with the vertical design on the skirt.  I ironed the fusible interfacing on to the reverse of the  main fabric (not the lining as instructed), laid on the wadding, placed the lining and waistband fabric right sides together and stitched the top edges together.  I attached the front of the waistband to the skirt, folded the lining on to the wrong side and hand stitched the folded waistband over the attaching stitching.  Then I stitched over some of the black lines of the print in black thread, so subtle that you may not notice it in the photographs of the exterior of the skirt so I am showing a photograph of the inside.

This is how the back of the waistband looks when closed. I think that the quilting does enhance the waistband but remember that the addition of wadding will reduce the inner circumference of the waistband.

The back of the skirt has a simply constructed back pleat for ease of walking, necessary because the skirt narrows from the top to the hem.  This shaping means that it is not possible to exactly pattern match  but, as the fabric has a definite horizontal and vertical  pattern, I did my best to do matching where possible, see photographs of side seam and pocket.

 

 

 

 

 The pattern instructions suggest the sewing of a decorative button to each pocket.  I tried several examples from my button box, both plain and fancy, but none of them looked appropriate and I thought a button would detract from the drama of the fabric print so I left the pocket flap without one.

 

Verdict  I would have liked the sizes to have been indicated on the actual pdf  and a check square to indicate that the print out was the correct size.  The length of fabric is given as 1.1 metre for all sizes using the original length of skirt (63.5 centimetres) but the width of the fabric is not indicated.  If you decide to make it I would suggest working out the amount of fabric that you need by measuring the pdf to find out how much fabric and what width you require in your size.  The construction is not difficult and a beginner, who is happy with invisible zip insertion, could make it with little trouble.

 I liked the shape of the skirt and the design of the pockets, indeed I will probably use this pocket on some other skirt or dress design.  I feel that the design on this African fabric from my stash admirably suits this skirt pattern.  It can be dressed up or look more casual and can be worn Winter or Summer depending upon the other garments worn.  I found the instructions difficult to work out regarding the waistband but I was ignoring these in any case to do my own variation.

The skirt for winter wear with thick tights and a wool polo neck jumper.

 

 For Summer wear, a somewhat more formal outfit.  The top is another free pattern, the Collette Sorbetto, with a hack on the original short sleeves to turn them into long bell-shaped sleeves.

 

This side view gives you an idea of the shaping at the waist.

 

 

 

 

How to sew curved hems!

I thought I knew how best to sew a curved hem but hey, there are more ways than I realised. The aim is to fold up the longer raw edge (i.e. longer than the stitching line) and sew the hem without getting puckers, wrinkles or pleats.

I found this YouTube video by Prof PIncushion (Link here) showing three different methods.

I very much recommend the suggested machine-basted stitching line (that's the one with the really long stitch length) because it makes pressing over the seam allowance a lot easier. You will get a more even distance from the fabric edge to the fold line that will look a lot better than eye-balling while pressing. It is such a pain when you have to repeat ironing after a first attempt looks frustratingly wobbly. Folding the fabric over at the basted line is easier because of the perforations in the fabric: it's almost as if the fabric wants to fold along that line. Highly recommended.

When you work with a thickish wool fabric then a high iron temperature and plenty of steam will shrink the fabric a bit so you can get the raw edge to reduce to the smaller measurement. That's what I did: baste, fold over and press and then press and shrink. But you can't do that with all fabric fibres. You need a different method for other fabrics.

I would be inclined to go with the first method Professor Pincushion shows but baste two lines: one as she describes, and a second one for where I want to fold the fabric over. This saves on the time it takes to measure and mark the fabric as per her demonstration. The bit I learnt from this video is her tip to pull at the higher up basting stitch line in those places where your fabric won't lie flat enough - to ease it in. That's really useful!

The rolled hem also sounds useful but to be honest I wouldn't have the patience for trimming the seam allowance as shown. Instead I prefer baby hems, particularly with light-weight fabric. This works best if you can overlock (serge) the raw edge. I machine baste at a folding line at a distance of about a centimeter away from the edge, and then overlock the raw edge. Then I press the fabric over once. I then edge-stitch the hem two centimeter from the folded edge. This leaves a very narrow seam allowance and keeps the hem nice and drapey. This can be lovely for the hems of flutter sleeves. A edge that's been folded over twice could be too stiff.

I also like the third method of sewing a ribbon to the hem, either on the right side as a decorative feature or on the inside. Either would give a skirt hem a nice bit of weight. A variation of this method is to sew on a ribbon onto the outside to diguise your top stitching. Ribbon or braid can be placed at the edge or even a bit higher up for a very attractive feature. You may want to use the same ribbon or braid elsewhere in the garment to tie it all together.

~ ~ ~

And here is another YouTube video by JOANN Fabric and Craft Stores (Link here).
 

 

I really like the look of the rolled hem. This method will probably strike you as needing too many basting lines that you need to pull out at the end - but just look at the neat result!  I think this makes it well worth it.

The bias facing method is also really impressive. It takes a bit of trial and error to figure out how much to pull at the bias strip to get it to the right tension. I would be tempted to pull a lot less than the word 'pull' suggests - just lay down the strip and smooth it to lie flat along the middle of the strip length (where you'll sew) as opposed to at the very edge. It is a touch annoying that you have to trim this down, but the sewn edge makes for a useful guide. I'm all for top stitching this instead of hand-sewing a blind hem. On the other hand, a thicker wool type fabric is quite forgiving and easier to hand sew, giving a really beautiful result.

The bias binding method takes more preparation for pressing the bias tape as described. The technique that I found handy involves a darning needle stuck into your sewing board cover at both its ends, as a "gate" to pull the flat tape through and press. This preparation will make sewing the strip onto the hem a lot easier. The suggested stitch-in-the-ditch method takes quite a bit of practise (you can also see how slowly she stitches). I must say that I am not hugely fond of the look you achieve with this method, I prefer a ribbon over binding or the above bias facing that will put the bias strip onto the inner side, making it invisible. I find that this looks a lot more grown-up, the binding method reminds me of kids clothes, but that's just me.

So there you have it!  Six different methods (seven if you count my baby hem method that I snuck in there), something to try out when you're not happy with another method. You'll find that the fibre and the weight of your fabric will make some of these methods more useful than another. Go and experiment!

If you are very new to sewing and find all these rather overwhelming then I recommend the first method Prof Pincushion describes (just with two basting lines). Or baby hems when you have an overlocker stitch available and need a really drapey hem for a thin fabric.