The Cutest Little Sleeves

While I've been busy counting down the days until school is out for the summer, I've been passing the time on Baby Love. Here's a close up of the front bodice with collar and front bands:




Today I've worked on the sleeves. I added piping to the sleeve band, then gathered the bottom edge of the sleeve. After putting these pieces together, I had this:




I can tell already that these are going to be the cutest little sleeves!

See for yourself:




In the above photo I've sewn in the sleeves and stitched up the side seams.

Although different pattern directions give different instructions for installing sleeves, I prefer to put in the sleeves before stitching the side seams. It really seems much easier that way, especially when you are working with such small armholes.

I then moved on to the bottom facings. Here's what they look like before I turn them to the inside:



This is going to be a nice, full, lush little bubble. I'm crazy about it. I'm really glad I stuck with it, after that unfortunate incident Never To Be Spoken Of Again.

Here's a close up of the smocking. See the nice spread at the bottom? And, no, it's not quite finished. I will add the boullion flowers at the end. I didn't want to take a chance on catching the loops during construction.



Although it's a little bright, in this last photo you can see that I lapped over the front bands before attaching the bottom facing. I've done the topstitching, too.

I will stitch a channel in the bottom facing to create a casing for the elastic around the legs. Then it needs buttonholes, buttons, sleeve band finishing, and boullions.

I must say that I have been very pleased with this pattern and the pattern directions. Although the illustrations seem to be hand drawn, they are extremely good.

The only problem I have encountered was with the sleeves. Both notches and dots are marked on the sleeve piece, but the notches don't match up with the bodice notches. The dots do match. I went back to the master pattern before sewing in the sleeves to make sure it wasn't just me, Being Stupid again.

I have a feeling I'll be making this one again, real soon. More later.