So I am working on a jacket for Megan. She needed office wear. Normally I am opposed to making jackets but I did it anyways. What don’t I like? SLEEVES. I used to cheat and leave the side seams open while I set in the sleeves but today I decided to do it the right way, closed side seam on jacket and closed sleeve seam.

Things that make setting in sleeves easier.

1. Mark the pattern pieces. Those little dots are there for a reason.
2. The basting stitches should be at 5/8 and 1/4 inches. This will make the gathering part easier.
3. Use a dress form.
4. Pin the sleeve at the shoulder seam and the armpit. Pin at the notches. Then gather to match the dots.
5. I used a billion pins this time.
6. I hand basted in the sleeves to avoid having to yank out pins as I go (I am also a little more cautious because I frequently run out of bobbin thread while putting in sleeves and I discover it after all the pins are taken out.

Hopefully your sleeve setting goes smoothly. This is the jacket I am making… Simplicity 4238 View C. I am working with a plaid and thought that this pattern worked better.

It will go with Simplicity 3874 view A. I am making the dress out of a chocolate brown jersey. I ditched the zipper in the back and it will be pull on. The one difficulty in how I cut the dress is that I negated the center back seam in the top part which made it difficult to sew the lining to the exterior.