Jul 16, 2013

Flutter into Summer

Flutter into summer with Sandra (from Making it with Help) and her feminine 'flutter sleeve'.   Not knowing what to call her sleeve - kind of a cap with fullness - her naming of this sleeve effect is totally perfect.

I had the pleasure of meeting Sandra in the SFD April Fit & Sew Retreat.  After 6 days of 'fitting intimacy' I know her summer dress style is totally suited to her.


You know I love sharing what my ladies have designed with their SFD patterns and knew you'd like to see what the sleeve pattern looks like.  Sandra says, 'I had this nice piece of fabric to make the fluttery almost-cap sleeves. My first attempt was a failure; I don’t even remember what I was thinking. So, with not too much fabric left, I got out my Sure-Fit Designs bodice front and back blueprints. I aligned the front and back shoulder seams and from that, created a pattern piece as long and wide as I could, flaring it out at the center (the part that would go over my shoulder). I serged the outer and inner curved edges, pressed under and stitched to finish them.

Then I tried on the sundress, and by trial and error, pinned the sleeves to the bottom of the top ruffle in the front and back until I was happy with the angle and fit. It took me about 100 tries, okay maybe 50. At least 25. I then trimmed and serged the edges and stitched them, right side of the sleeve to wrong side of the sundress, stretching the elastic of the sundress at the same time. I then hand-stitched the top of the blue ruffle to the sleeves.

Using the shoulder area of her SFD body blueprint helped her to see what shape she should cut to achieve the look she wanted.
Right Side View

Wrong Side View

Sandra has her own sewing blog called Making it with Help.  I encourage you to hop on over and read her full account of designing this border-print dress to suit her personality and to see some of her sewing construction details.  Very well done, Sandra!

I hope you're all having fun sewing your summer projects and for our Down-Under friends, keeping warm in your winter.

2 comments:

  1. Looks like a lovely summer dress. Must be very cool and comfortable to wear.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very cute, and it looks so nice on you! I read your blog post. Enjoyed it so much.
    Hugs, Joy

    ReplyDelete