Burda Style For people who sew

I’m currently sewing a one shoulder satin dress, and I’ve tried to add a sleeve. I used a tutorial to calculate the dimensions of it. It fits, and when my arm is just hanging straight down, it looks great. But… I can’t for example put my arm on my hips, or hold my hand up in the air. The sleeve is just too small for that.

But what is wrong with it, or, how can I try to fix it? What should I alter?

Aug 14, 2011, 10.10 PM by aleah

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5 Posts

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  Aug 15, 2011, 05.24 AMby katexxxxxx

  Sounds like you haven’t added quite enough ease to the sleeve for the fabric you are using.
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  Aug 15, 2011, 09.24 AMby aleah

  Ah… should I add ease to the sleeve cap itself? I can just imagine that that part wouldn’t fit well with my sloper(?) if I made it larger.

  1 Reply

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    Aug 16, 2011, 11.26 AMby katexxxxxx

    Where you need to add the ease is going to depend on exactly where you find it binding when you move… Can you post pix anywhere?

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  Aug 16, 2011, 03.53 PMby mickeygirl

  This might be helpful http://www.wildginger.com/pdffiles/dfpbook.pdf
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  Aug 20, 2011, 05.42 AMby jenss-1

  It sounds like you added a sleeve to a pattern that was originally sleeveless? On sleeveless dresses, the armholes can sometimes be larger than they would be for a sleeved garment. If so, and if the armhole is kind of low, then this may be why arm motion is restricted. I’m not sure how that would be corrected, if that is the case. Maybe by creating a gusset in the underarm area (might be tricky) or by cutting a new bodice with a higher armhole.
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  Aug 20, 2011, 01.05 PMby aleah

  yes, the dress was originally sleeveless… I had never drafted a sleeve on my own before, actually never even sewn one. Unfortunately I do not have enough fabric to cut a new bodice, but the gusset idea might work out… nevertheless the sleeve fits and looks great – it’s just not a dress I can dance in haha. :) Thank you everyone!