Saturday, January 5, 2008

Houston, we have achieved sleeve

However, we have also achieved dead camera battery, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Last post I was worried about sleeve ease in this jacket vs. the leather version yet to come. I measured the sleeve cap against the armscye, and there was 2" of ease there. I decided that as a test run for the next coat, I'd see how this worked with 1". I wasn't sure it would work this way, but since the sleeves were already cut out there was no going back - I measured how much I would have to take off the top of the sleeve cap to lose an inch of ease, closed my eyes and cut. I put in two rows of ease stitching and pinned it into the jacket. It fit, and looked okay, so I tried it on. No binding or pulling, and I could raise my arms, so I did the happy dance, took the jacket back off, took the sleeve out, and steamed it into shape over the ham. I was right - the flannel backing on this makes it shape like a dream.

Did this for both sleeves, re-pinned and sewed them in. The instructions call for a 2" wide strip of lambswool or mohair extending beyond the seam to add shape to the sleeve head. Having neither lambswool nor mohair around (nor even batting, after the Christmas quilted bag extravaganza), I cut a strip of the lining flannel, doubled it, and hand-sewed it into place. It worked again. Probably not as well as the recommended material, but it worked.

Those shoulder pads I tried the other day no longer worked for me when I tacked them in. I had already shifted the shoulder seam a little when I first made the jacket, and with the extra flannel at the seam head, every size pad I had still seemed too bulky. So I'm going with my own shoulders, which seem to fill the jacket just fine.

After that, I hemmed the bottom and the sleeves, and said enough for a while. Tomorrow is another day, Scarlett.

Sir Thomas Gray, one of my best helpers.

1 comment:

kasizzle said...

You sure were brave to cut the sleeve down. I'm not sure I would have had the guts!
beautiful cat!