Motoring duster: Sleeves and Cuffs

[madamemodiste]

Sleeves and cuff:

Last night I made the sleeves. They are unlined, but the directions do not have you flat-fell the seams, but only tell you to press them to one side and stitch the seam allowance down 1/4" from the seam. Leaves the edges all raw (since I forgot to serge the sleeves). Another thing I don't like about the sleeves is the cuff. The cuffs do not meet edge to edge like they are supposed to, but are an inch too short to do so. In addition, the way they have you attach the cuffs leaves the raw edge of the cuff showing just inside the sleeve! They say you can hand stitch it down "if you want". Yeah, I want.

Here's a pic of the sleeve with the raw edges of the cuff waiting to be stitched down so they don't flip back up and wave at everyone. You can also see the top stitched sleeve seam allowance.

Comments

[bauhausfrau.livejournal.com]

How aggravating! So many patterns have you do that with the cuffs, I don't know why when it's just as easy to sew them such that the raw ends are under the folded back cuff!

[madamemodiste.livejournal.com]

As I was going along I kept waiting for the part where they explain how I'm going to hide the raw edges. I got to the end and was like, "Huh?!". Fannie over on the Alley suggested I get a nice chocolate brown bias tape and encase the raw edges under it. I will eventually do that as it sounds really nice :) But your idea is great! I didn't even think of that, but of course it was too late when I realized they had no plan for the raw edges.

[dragoneyes19.livejournal.com]

I was totally about to say, I'd get bias tape and sew it to the seam allowance and then whip stitch it to the sleeve to finish it.

[mr-cutiepants.livejournal.com]

{goes back and reads your other posts about this pattern}

This reminds me of something: I work one day a week at the Merchant's House Museum here in New York, recataloging part of their collection, and I'm always surprised looking at clothing from 1860s or whatever that it has raw seams on the inside! Seems like they were either raw, or lightly whip-stitched together (like in period bodices, especially)... or I'll see that the garment-maker has used the selvages of fabric as the seam inside, so they don't have to do anything to the seam. I wonder if it's because the ladies of the house made their own clothing, so they were more like amateur dressmakers. (?)

It's kind of funny, because to me as a modern person I always think, "wow, raw edge?! that's really messy." :)

(Though I guess the selvage edges are the most common... makes sense I guess because the fabric came in such narrow widths).

Don't think I've ever seen a raw edge on an unlined sleeve like this though... maybe it's just Simplicity being weird.

BTW ! Your notched collar looks great!!

[madamekat.livejournal.com]

I really wish their historical patterns came with some tidbits like a photo of the garment that inspired the pattern and if the pattern is a faithful reproduction (which would then explain a lot, eh?).

Cool info! Thanks for sharing!

[mr-cutiepants.livejournal.com]

I KNOW! I wish that too. :/ Stupid simplicity. Too bad because a lot of their patterns are beautiful.

I have liked the tidbits that I found with Past Patterns (Sandra Ros Altman) the best... recently I enjoyed historically raping^H^H^H adapting her 1880s tea dress (here: http://mr-cutiepants.livejournal.com/137423.html) -- it was a great pattern and came with a lot of historical stuff including details about the original dress that Altman copied. I actually kind of fell in love with that pattern company after that. :)

My goal now is to make an historically accurate version of that dress, and try to do the weird whipstitched seams thing on the inside of the bodice, and gauge the skirt in the back, etc.

[ghost-ofa-rose.livejournal.com]

Those directions are totally annoying. Of course you want to hide the raw edges.

[my-stitching.livejournal.com]

That would bug me too. They probably assume people just want it for a costume. You could probably still line the sleeves to enclose the edges. Or you could but some bias over the raw edge at the cuff and the inside sleeve seam to make it look more finished.

[stypica.livejournal.com]

that would bug me - I'd have to rip it and serge the edge, then stitch it under, or redo the sleave long enough to fold that edge under your double stitch without too much bulk - or sew in a liner. Looks really unfinished under close scrutiny:/

everything you do ends up looking faboo - I'm sure you'll hit a tasteful solution!

[harlequin-elf.livejournal.com]

Now that *is* annoying! I love the sounds of Chocolate bias tape though..

*Sigh* Why to the do that? It looks like such a nice pattern, and they didn't that the little extra to make it a *really* nice pattern .

[princessmadison.livejournal.com]

hello, first, let me tell you that i admire your sewing abilities! do you have an idea where i could find some purple and black stripped fabric?
thank you

[madamekat.livejournal.com]

Hi, thanks!

No idea where to find purple and black striped fabric. The only thing I can think of, if cotton is ok, get black and white fabric and dye it purple, and the white stripes will turn purple while the black will stay black. Good luck!