It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…it was the spring of Hope, it was the winter of Despair.
I felt rather deflated after the last (and as I thought) most brilliant attempt at a perfect sleeve for this coat turned out, well, mediocre. I don’t want to slave away on a coat for 50 hours only to look at mediocre sleeves for the rest of its life. I couldn’t decide which way to go towards making the sleeve work, so I left it alone for a few days and drank during my free time.
Funny, that. Drink or sew, but mixing doesn’t seem to work well.
After a few evenings of zero productivity, I decided to rotate the sleeve. For the sleeve above, I matched the underarm seam to the bottom seam on the sleeve. This turned out to be incorrect, and a probable cause of sleeve-twisting. On the track of a new development, I ripped and re-positioned the sleeve, though I had to fudge the positioning a little bit. The front of the coat wanted to ease into the sleeve rather than vice-versa. I discovered an ungodly amount of ease in the back. Before I basted, I knew it wasn’t right.
Better, perhaps, than the previous attempt but by no means good enough. Let me be clear: this is the same sleeve as above, but rotated on the bottom by about 3/4″. I left the top of the sleeve as marked.
This time I took it personally. The seam ripper came out, and I ripped the sleeve while Husband was still wearing it. Then I pinned, admired, pinned, admired, and pinned. Lila kept running around my legs and hopping on the computer. She gets so excited about fittings. She tries to stick pins into Daddy; when I take the pins away she protests indignantly. She took some pictures this time:
Victory! I still need to take in the side back seam a trifle, but I think we have a sleeve now. I knew it could be fantastic. Now I need to pull the pieces apart, transfer the alterations to the pattern and we’re in business. Spring of hope!
Fantastic! It looks perfect! Also, I think you should have Lila do all your photos from now on.
A well fitted sleeve is a triumph indeed! I did the exact same thing yesterday fitting a 1760s pet en l'aire sleeve for a friend. Adjust, and adjust, and adjust, until we got it rightAnd you and hubby and dearie are so cute!
Lila is showing signs of a good documentary photographer – very cute!Good to see it all coming together. Fitting sleeves can be such a test of patience!Make sure it is not too tight across the upper arm – leave room for lining/shirts underneath etc.Nearly time to cut!
Good save. BTW, no two piece sleeves do not have the seams line up with the side seam. I try to remember to measure the sleeve cap and the armhole to make sure that there is not too much ease. Whenever I forget, inevitably there is too much.