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.
- Mark the pattern pieces. Those little dots are there for a reason.
- The basting stitches should be at 5/8 and 1/4 inches. This will make the gathering part easier.
- Use a dress form.
- Pin the sleeve at the shoulder seam and the armpit. Pin at the notches. Then gather to match the dots.
- I used a billion pins this time.
- 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.
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