Saturday, May 22, 2010

Long Sleeves Gone Short!

Marigold's skirt challenge has really got me going on my sewing machine! I'm a force to be reckonned with, and no unworn article of clothes is safe from my meddling.

I have a lovely, lightweight, long sleeved, yellow ruffly shirt handed over from my Gramma Vivian. No idea how old it is, but the tag definitely does not look new or modern. I love this shirt, but i'm not so keen on the long sleeves that just don't feet very well. Plus i live in Austin. It's hot here. I'd rather wear short sleeves. My desire for a lighter shirt, and my increased age/size causes me to look for shirts with longer short sleeves to flatter my buff arms and 1940s figure in the best way.


Cut cut, hem hem, ruffle ruffle, TA DA. A success! The sleeves are even the same length, i'm amazed.


Method in brief:
  • Measured 8.5 inches from shoulder / 4.5 inches from arm pit and cut a straight line
  • Cut strips from remaining extra sleeve, sewed short ends together to form a double lengthed section, folded over longways, ironed and  straight stitched together with tension set to 9 and stitch length to 6
  • Gathered the material by pulling on the thread and bunching up the cloth to make cute ruffles
  • This part is too hard to explain (for me at least) but the jist: hemmed very tiny fold of sleeve, sewed ruffled to sleeve, turn over, turn over again to capture the furry end of the ruffle and stitched close to make a very nice, clean, even hem.
This shirt will be great tucked formally, over skirts or pants for breezy cool comfort, dressy or casual. Yay!

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