Create a Swirled Bias Sleeve

Denise in her bias swirl dress, made in printed black chiffon

Cut four strips for each sleeve. The hook becomes a cuff ruffle.

Denise Severson's bias swirl sleeve.

Photo: Timothy Hughes Photographics

I promised to share more techniques for creating sleeves that fit a larger biceps from Denise Severson. Denise, an alterations expert and Association of Sewing and Design Professionals member, wrote an article on the topic, "Bye Bye, Biceps Blues" in Threads no. 155.

Denise has a delicious dress in black. It's a bias-cut confection, with "swirled" sleeves. The sleeves are cut and seamed on the straight, but worn in the bias. She made this dress originally for the ASDP/Threads Fluid Fabric Challenge in 2008. The pieced fabric strips form a sleeve "tube." The strips and seams wrap around the arm, a delightful effect in sheer fabrics. You would use this technique after you've made the basic pattern alteration for larger biceps, outlined in the print article.

The Bias-Swirl Sleeve
Denise in her bias swirl dress, made in printed black chiffon.

1 Cut eight fabric strips. Each sleeve requires four. (The sections are illustrated in different colors for clarity.) Note: Readers have asked about the precise measurements. Well, there is some experimentation to perfect this technique! The strips' length and width are interdependent, because the strips spiral diagonally around the sleeve. Try paper first to get a feel for the technique, and Denise recommends guinea-pigging with scrap fabric to test length, width, and seam allowances.

2 Arrange the fabric sections for piecing. Each section is “dropped” by one fabric strip width, for a "stair-step" block. Drop the sections from upper left to lower right. The seam stops at the hem seam allowance of the left-most pattern piece.

3 Sew the sections together. For sheers, use a French or wrapped French seam; otherwise, baste, then serge to finish and trim the excess seam allowance. Continue the seam finish through each strip's curved end to hem the sleeve.

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Sarah McFarland, contributor
Posted on May 5th, 2011 in sewing, online extras, fitting, bias swirl sleeve, pieced sleeve construction, biceps alteration

Comments (12)

madwhimsy writes: This is beautiful! Great idea, even for sprucing up sleeves for skinny arms like mine. Now I need to "find a reason" to use this technique.
Posted: 1:06 pm on August 3rd

Sewista writes: My head is spinning! I'd also appreciate further clarification. I do like how the sleeve ends in the bias ruffle.
Posted: 5:53 am on May 13th

smcfarland writes: Hi again - I was able to add more detail about planning and creating the spiral in the sleeve. Denise plans a few additional images to cover the confusing part - we'll add those soon. Thanks!
Posted: 11:28 am on May 12th

smcfarland writes: Hello! I've contacted Denise, the author, to figure out how best to clarify the instructions. The steps are all there, but I can see now that more detail would make the technique easier to follow. I'll post another comment after the post is updated. - Sarah
Posted: 10:38 am on May 12th

janraywilson writes: This is such a great idea but please could we have a few more detailed steps in the "how to"?
Posted: 5:13 am on May 12th

NubianGoddess writes: I like this idea, my friend gave me a blouse, but the biceps or should I say my biceps are bigger than the sleeve circumference. I've been looking for a way to re-vamp them.
thanx again.
Posted: 5:14 pm on May 10th

tessi writes: I agree that a step (or more) is missing. How wide should each strip be? How long should it be (for different sleeve lengths)?

I've made a swirl skirt before, so I think I can imagine how the "tube" is formed, but if one wants to try this sleeve idea, a little more information about strip width, and length is needed...unless of course, one wants to just keep experimenting until one gets the size and length they need................

Love the idea though!
Posted: 3:50 pm on May 10th

kewpiedoll99 writes: How do you make sure the tube is wide enough for your arm?
Posted: 3:10 pm on May 10th

decoDiva writes: Love the look and a great idea, but some step IS missing, I thinnk Rabia & Cfiedes are on the money, when I followed after the seaming together, I missed the turn.
Posted: 3:02 pm on May 10th

CFields writes: I think when Sarah says "Twist the pieced fabric to continue the dropped piecing progression." it means to coil the pieced strip into a tube, like wrapping it around your arm, and then pin the long, continuous seam and sew it. It would be like wrapping a ribbon around your arm and seaming the edges together to form a tube.
Posted: 1:16 pm on May 10th

Gigi_Louis writes: Lovely!
Posted: 1:13 pm on May 10th

Rabia writes: Is there a step missing here? I don't quite get how to "close the fabric tube"...maybe the author has left something out?
Posted: 9:22 pm on May 6th

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