4 years ago
Have you ever had an ah-ha moment and had to remind yourself that you can sew? That you can make anything you want to make? That happened to me earlier this year, and I have been on this bishop sleeve kick for a while. I have always admired bishop sleeves. And I have always admired (secretly envied) women who wore a dress or blouse with bishop sleeves.
I have extremely large arms so ready-to-wear blouses are always a hit or miss. And any blouse or dress with long cuffed sleeves and that bishop flare, were always a miss. Never a hit. So I’ve gone my whole life without this style in my closet, until this year.
As I also, continue on my goal of adding color into my wardrobe, this fun fabric caught my eye. It's an ITY Silky Knit Fabric by John Kaldor here at Minerva. Of course it has a great stretch and lovely soft feel. It's a medium weight so it's perfect for a blouse and yet light enough to work beautifully as a bishop sleeve.
I created my look by hacking the Mama Isabel pattern by Made for Mermaids. If you've never heard of them, please check them out. Her pattern company, and her sister's company, Patterns for Pirates, have the most amazing options for every day life needs when it comes to patterns. And their instructions are like mini sew-alongs with photos rather than the mechanical drawings we have grown used to with the Big 4 pattern companies.
The Mama Isabel is a popular wrap dress with varying lengths, including that of a blouse. Instead of using the 3/4 length fitted sleeve that comes with the pattern, I decided to make a bishop sleeve style blouse. The easiest way to create a new sleeve for a pattern, is to use the original pattern piece. This allows the armscye and the sleeve pattern pieces to stay lined up while sewing them together. No additional modifications will be needed. For this blouse, I took the pattern piece and added the excess fabric needed to accomplish the look. I did not add anything to the upper portion of the sleeve, as the fabric had a good amount of stretch anyway. The modifications included adding additional room to the bottom of the sleeve. Again, this allows the sleeve to fit in the armhole as designed while altering the overall style of the sleeve. The sleeve hem was simply done with a small casing to fit the 1/8th inch elastic in order to finish off the look.
Normally I would adjust the neckline to be higher because I was not blessed with a full bosom so I don’t fill out wrap dresses and blouses as nicely as some women. But the neckline on the Made for Mermaids works well for me. The stretch of the fabric and the neckband holds against my body and does not fall open to expose my lack of a full bosom. For my next blouse, I will add a few more inches to the hem because I prefer my blouses to fall at or just below the fullest part of my hip.
Overall, I couldn't be happier. A simple make that adds not only more color into my wardrobe, but bishop sleeves as well! A 2 for 1 deal is always acceptable in my life! And I absolutely love the feel of the fabric against my skin!
I have extremely large arms so ready-to-wear blouses are always a hit or miss. And any blouse or dress with long cuffed sleeves and that bishop flare, were always a miss. Never a hit. So I’ve gone my whole life without this style in my closet, until this year.
As I also, continue on my goal of adding color into my wardrobe, this fun fabric caught my eye. It's an ITY Silky Knit Fabric by John Kaldor here at Minerva. Of course it has a great stretch and lovely soft feel. It's a medium weight so it's perfect for a blouse and yet light enough to work beautifully as a bishop sleeve.
I created my look by hacking the Mama Isabel pattern by Made for Mermaids. If you've never heard of them, please check them out. Her pattern company, and her sister's company, Patterns for Pirates, have the most amazing options for every day life needs when it comes to patterns. And their instructions are like mini sew-alongs with photos rather than the mechanical drawings we have grown used to with the Big 4 pattern companies.
The Mama Isabel is a popular wrap dress with varying lengths, including that of a blouse. Instead of using the 3/4 length fitted sleeve that comes with the pattern, I decided to make a bishop sleeve style blouse. The easiest way to create a new sleeve for a pattern, is to use the original pattern piece. This allows the armscye and the sleeve pattern pieces to stay lined up while sewing them together. No additional modifications will be needed. For this blouse, I took the pattern piece and added the excess fabric needed to accomplish the look. I did not add anything to the upper portion of the sleeve, as the fabric had a good amount of stretch anyway. The modifications included adding additional room to the bottom of the sleeve. Again, this allows the sleeve to fit in the armhole as designed while altering the overall style of the sleeve. The sleeve hem was simply done with a small casing to fit the 1/8th inch elastic in order to finish off the look.
Normally I would adjust the neckline to be higher because I was not blessed with a full bosom so I don’t fill out wrap dresses and blouses as nicely as some women. But the neckline on the Made for Mermaids works well for me. The stretch of the fabric and the neckband holds against my body and does not fall open to expose my lack of a full bosom. For my next blouse, I will add a few more inches to the hem because I prefer my blouses to fall at or just below the fullest part of my hip.
Overall, I couldn't be happier. A simple make that adds not only more color into my wardrobe, but bishop sleeves as well! A 2 for 1 deal is always acceptable in my life! And I absolutely love the feel of the fabric against my skin!