Sleeve Saga

I'm plugging away at my Anthropologie-inspired corduroy dress (see this post), and much of my time over the weekend was spent on the sleeve.  I admit to leaving multiple dresses sleeveless because the sleeve offered by the pattern did not work for me, and I either tried to adjust it and it just didn't work, or I just figured I could go without.  But, feeling emboldened by such a successful sleeve in my Jalie shirt, and armed with my resolution to make muslins this year, I decided to put some real work into the sleeve for this dress.  I feel pretty silly calling this a saga, when Sunni recently made a bazillion muslins to tackle a dress fitting issue.  But relative to my usual cross my fingers, sew it up, fix what I can and call it a day, that's what it's been.

I mentioned before that I had already completed a mild-failure version 1 of this dress (I'll show you version 1 vs. take 2 when it's done!).  The sleeves were too wide, so I took them in at the seam.  But the real problem, which I couldn't fix, was that the armholes came down too far.  I had trouble lifting my arms, and I couldn't fit a coat comfortably over the dress! Not acceptable.

The armscye from Butterick 5030 is on the bottom; Simplicity 4171 (the original pattern) is on top.

So, I took out the original pattern I used (Simplicity 4171, with a full skirt and a modified neckline), a Butterick wrap dress pattern (B5030, size 10), and the shirt pattern from Sew U (size S) for a comparison.  The difference in armscye and sleeve cap shapes was crazy! Even though the Simplicity pattern is labeled as the smallest, the armscye came down an inch lower than the other patterns.

Sew U on the left, Simplicity on the right.

The sleeve cap difference was similarly insane.  There were 2" of sleeve cap ease in the Simplicity pattern, versus 1" in the Sew U pattern.  They looked completely different.

So, in a brave (aka blindly hopeful) move, I brought the bottom of the armscye up about 3/4", folded out all of the sleeve cap ease, and made up a muslin.  Which got me this.

There were diagonal wrinkles, it felt tight, and it was, mostly, worse than the original.  So, I made a cut across the top of the sleeve cap (with the muslin still on... this is how impatient I am).  And, voila! Most of the wrinkles disappeared.

I adjusted my sleeve pattern, adding back about 1" of ease to the cap.  I compared the adjusted sleeve to the Butterick sleeve, and they were nearly identical except for the Butterick being slightly slimmer.

Butterick on the bottom, sleeve #2 with 1" ease added

So with the Butterick sleeve, I ended up with this improved version (on the right):

Sleeve #2 on the left, Sleeve #3 on the right.

Now, it may not look different to you, but I could move! There are still a couple of wrinkles, but I'm adding 1cm to the armscye at the shoulder, which, according to various internets research, may help.  (No, I'm not making another muslin.  I think the wearable muslin (what I'm calling Failure #1) and this one were enough progress for me, don't you? Muslins are magic, but I have my limits!)

I'm secretly (or not so secretly) jealous of people like Jessica at Stitchy Witch, who often successfully removes all of the ease from her sleeve caps.  Maybe I'll figure it out next time, but for now I'm sticking with my 1" of ease.  I have the corduroy cut out, and I've started sewing it up.  Hopefully I'll have a dress to show you soon! One that isn't a bodice only, with a large rip in the shoulder.  Not a good look for me.

What do you think about muslins? Are you as impatient as me? Do you skip them? Begrudgingly make them? Or love them and see them as part of the process for a good finished product?