13 Feb 2012

Marfy dress - sleeve variation



The longer I looked at the pictures the more I thought there is something wrong... Guess what, it turned out it was the sleeve. Somehow, there is just too much of volume there, it draws all attention away from the pretty details of the bodice and the skirt:
  

I figured, I had to take out some of the volume to make it look better.
Here are the before and after pictures (going from the 1980's to the 1940's!):
   

How I did it?
It is a quite simple change. I didn't even removed the sleeve.
First of all, the type of sleeve I wanted is the classic 1940's type puffed but short, straight sleeve. I took out the Colette Ceylon dress pattern. It is another contemporary but definitely vintage style pattern. The sleeves are gathered at the shoulders but further plain. Exactly what I wanted for this dress too:



Comparing the patterns the sleeves they have a different sleeve cap, so I left that as it was.
I was interested in lower end of the sleeve. The Marfy pattern is made for a classic gathered sleeve, it widens towards the cuff. The Ceylon dress pattern is more fitted, narrower at the bottom.

1. I folded the wider bottom parts inwards, parallel with the side lines of the Colette pattern:



2. As you can see the bottom curve is just the opposite (inwards on the Ceylon pattern) so I took that over too. That's it!
I might make the sleeves slightly longer (an inch or so =2,5 cm) falling just above the elbow.
With this little modification my muslin is just perfect and the pattern pieces are adjusted too. Just have to find the right fabric to sew up this dress! My first idea was to use cotton fabric but I realized that it would look much better in a fabric with a better drape.

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