Reply To: Shoulder

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Don’t be discouraged.  You’re a new sewer and it just takes practice, so don’t be too hard on yourself.  I think the hardest part  in putting in a sleeve is the easing.  The sleeve cap always seems to have more fabric than the armhole so you put in basting stitches in the sleeve cap so you can slightly gather the sleeve to fit it in the armhole.  You can see an example of me pinning the sleeve in our steampunk coat tutorial starting at the time code 1:22:45.  You don’t actually see me stitching it in but I like to stitch it so that I’m stitching on the inside of the sleeve area.  This means that I’m looking at the sleeve side as I’m sewing and the bodice part is on the underneath side.  This way I can see my sleeve easing as I’m going around and making sure none of the gathering becomes a wrinkle.  But just go slow and if you’re not feeling confident, do a basting stitch instead.  Check out your stitches and if it’s looking good, you can just stitch again over your basting stitch.  Also, it’s always a good idea to do two sets of stitches about 1/8″ apart since there’s a lot of wear and tear in the sleeve area.  If you’re worried about all the seam allowance bulking up from the inside, you can trim the seam allowance, just be careful not to get your stitches.  You can do it! 🙂