Replies

1. 
   Betty_Kershner | Oct 06, 1999 07:42am | #1

   *
   If you are using a sleeve from another pattern just copy the armseye from that pattern onto your new pattern. If you are designing your own sleeve pattern you could find a patten in you stach to compare and change your new pattern. Same goes for girls.

1. 
   shifra_goldstein | Oct 06, 1999 06:53pm | #2

   *Betty, thanks! What would I do, though, with a store bought sleeveless dress??

1. 
   Betty_Kershner | Oct 07, 1999 07:16am | #3

   *Usually sleeveless dresses have smaller armseyes the those ment for sleeves. Once you have made your sleeves baste them in and try fit. You may need to lower the armseye slightly. If Your sleeve cap is smooth you still need ease at the top. Your best bet is to do this in muslin till you like the fit.

1. 
   shifra_goldstein | Oct 07, 1999 05:28pm | #4

   *I guess I'm not making my problem clear enough: I've got a sleeveles RTW dress. I bought white material which matches nicely and I now have to make sleeves for this thing FROM SCRATCH! What do I do? If I have to draft a sleeve pattern, how do I go about doing it? Or, is it possible to just lay the folded material into the armscye at a 45 degree angle and baste it in. Then cut a seam allowance and sew it up! Does anyone understand? Please help!

1. 
   lin_hendrix | Oct 07, 1999 08:03pm | #5

   *Hi Shifra, Drafting a sleeve from scratch is kinda complex to describe in a little posting like this. Drafting one to fit an already armscye in a RTW dress will be a bit more difficult. If you can wait a day, I can post a graphic drawing with some basic instructions for sleeve drafting however, Betty's idea of using a sleeve from a commercial pattern is probably the simplest method. I draft most of my own patterns and I steal sleeves much more often than starting from scratch. If you don't have a pattern, you might wish to just go out and buy one. Since sleeve caps can vary widely from style to style the best pattern to steal from will have upper bodice lines similar to your dress (i.e. fitted, loose, darts...). The big four pattern companies offer several views with a pattern; look for one that has both a sleeveless and a sleeve'd style; this way you can compare the two armscyes and see how to alter your RTW dress's armscye to match. Watch out for some of the Burda patterns; many have a cut-away armscye that will not be suitable.Whatever you do *don't* cut into your fashion fabric until you've made a muslin fitting! Just make up one sleeve in cheap muslin, gingham, or that non-woven pattern cloth. Leave lots of seam allowance at the cap. Baste it in to your dress to see the fit. Most adjustments to the sleeve will be in the cap area and length. Let me know if you want the draft-from-scratch instructions since it takes a bit of work to get them drawn up. --lin

2. 
   shifra_goldstein | Oct 08, 1999 05:56pm | #6

   *Lin! Here in Spain where I live, patterns are limited and expensive so I would greatly appreciate your instructions. I bought a fairly simple-to-follow Spanish pattern drafting book, but I don't know yet how to adapt the sleeve instructions for a dress I didn't draft! Hope to hear from you soon and thanks!

3. 
   lin_hendrix | Oct 10, 1999 02:37am | #7

   *Hi Shifra, Can't get the graphics posted. I emailed Sean, the webmaster, to see if he could get it posted.--lin

4. 
   shifra_goldstein | Oct 11, 1999 01:18am | #8

   *Thanks, Lin, hope it comes thru!

5. 
   lin_hendrix | Oct 11, 1999 01:45am | #9

   *Hi Shifra, It occurred to me that I could just email you thepage and graphics (duh). It'd be nice to have it posted her but just in case... Send me an email and I'll reply with the page and graphics. Are you on a pc? I'll compress the files with gzip if you are. If you're on a Unix box, then I'll use another [email protected]--lin

6. 
   Larry_Josephus | Oct 12, 1999 06:22pm | #10

   *Test to see if *.gif will post

7. 
   Ann-Mari | Oct 14, 1999 11:59pm | #11

   *Josephus: I just want you to know your .gif came through perfectly on my Macintosh Performa! Hope Shifra had the same wonderful result. (I should have notified you earlier, sorry!)

8. 
   lin_hendrix | Oct 15, 1999 08:24pm | #12

   *Hello All, The attachment function for messages here only takes one "thing." Unfortunately this means my post of eight "things" will not come across. I've successfully emailed the page I made up to Shifra and Shoma. If you're *really* interested I can send you the page too.--lin

9. 
   shifra_goldstein | Oct 24, 1999 04:14pm | #13

   *BHWell, people, just wanted to let you know that I did indeed get those instructions by email and they are very clear and useful and just what I needed. Thanks again, Lin!