The Final Defeat Vogue 1177

I've been brainstorming quite a bit about the sleeve dilemma with the Vogue 1177 blouse. After measuring my bicep and measuring (too late) the bicep on the pattern, I discovered that they are the same. Meaning no ease for my arm whatsoever.

 

I then pulled out the last muslin I made, the Burda 7189 blouse, and measured that altered sleeve at the bicep to determine my true fitted bicep measurement. Two and three-fourths inches difference.

 

This is not a complete fail. I have learned to measure first. Every single time. No excuses. If I'm too lazy to do that I need to go read or clean the bathtub instead of sewing.

 

I learned the value of keeping the original muslins. Just find a hanger and put it in the closet.

 

I learned the value of making notes as I alter the muslin. I have half a page of notes on the Burda 7189 and I referred to them several times while working on the Vogue blouse. Keeping track of back waist length, how much to lower the bust, and the width of the finished sleeve cuff were useful.

 

Most importantly, I learned not to just throw a project away too soon. After thinking about the Vogue 1177 sleeve for a couple of days, it dawned on me that the sleeve was a two-piece sleeve and there was still a possibility I could make it work. Here are the two sleeve sections, the upper cap piece and the lower piece. Notice that the lower piece is tucked. Which means it is wider (It is folded in the photo). And notice that the bicep of the sleeve is in the lower wider section:

 

I realized that I could eliminate some of the tucks in the lower section, making the sleeve wider at the bicep. I made that alteration and split the upper sleeve section. Here is the result.

This seriously reduced the sleeve cap height. I have no extra fabric. This option was not possible because in order for it to fit and hang correctly I would have to cut new sleeve pieces.

So as a last ditch attempt I decided to just put in the upper cap sleeve portion and have nice little capped sleeves instead of beautiful tucked sleeves. Too tight in the upper arm. No arm movement possible. Think tourniquet, if you will.

So this blouse is now officially a dud. It's going in the muslin closet and after a million years have gone by and I've gotten over it, I'm going to recut these sleeves out of something random and put them in. As I've said before, I love the style but hate the pattern. And you can bet I'm keeping the notes I've made.

Onward. Another pattern is up for a muslin.