Chemise sleeve UPDATE--thanks!

[gem]

I've had the body to my chemise cut out and partially sewn for a week now, and I can't move forward because I just can't decide what to do about the sleeves.

The pattern I'm using calls for the sleeves to be 15" wide, but I don't think that's going to be wide enough to get the proper amount of "poof" I'll need for the gown.

Isabelladangelo gave me some great links and some tips about width and length, but I'm still confused/conflicted/paralyzed.  I think I know what I need to do, but I just can't seem to figure out *how* to do it!

My pattern is a lot like the Margo Anderson smock pattern, with the square neck and fairly narrow body, the side gores and the sleeve gussets.  The gussets are 5" square (with 15" sleeves, the fit is very roomy).

I see that on her high-necked smock, the sleeves are poofier, and the excess is gathered at the top.  But I'm not sure how wide those are, or how much is actually gathered.  And that's where I'm having the difficulty.

This is where having a sewing buddy in real life would come in handy!  Somebody brave to say, "Here.  Make them ____ wide by ____ long, and gather ____ inches at the top.  See how easy that was?!"

Does anyone have any very specific suggestions to kick me past this analysis paralysis?  (Please remember that absolutely nothing about this comes naturally to me, and I have to think hard about every single step!! LOL).

Gramercy!!

[sealion]

I'm sorry I can't help you. I just want to give you a {{{HUG}}} because I can feel the frustration in your post! I've made a square neck smock with narrow sleeves and a couple of camecie with poofy sleeves but have no ideas for combining the two styles.

[Baroness Doune]

Upstairs I have a square neck smock which has been cut out since late last summer or early fall and is partially sewn.  It is sorta like Margo's square neck smock but it was cut with integrated side gores and will have the fuller sleeves of the high neck smock. 

The sleeves were cut half the width of the 3.5 oz linen from Fabrics-store.com and the length is 29 inches.  (I pulled one of the sleeves out of the Rubbermaid container and measured the length.  I sorta measured and figured on the width because the sleeve already has the underarm gussets attached and the sleeve seams done and is ready for gathering and attaching to the cuff.)  IIRC, each sleeve was a square.  (I know that after washing several times, the hanky linen that starts out as 60 inches wide is no longer that.)  They will be gathered into cuffs.  For reference, a 30 inch long sleeve would reach from my shoulder point to my finger tips.

If I were making the Italian chemise like Jen Thompson did, I would have made them 36 inches long.  If they are too long, you can always cut them shorter.

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

When I make chemises, I have to lay the fabric the entire width so that the salvage edges match. Then I lay the sleeve pattern that is nealrly a yard wide by 30" long. That should be plenty long to have a ruffle at the end and plenty of poof.

But each person is built diferently when it comes to arm lengths.

[amber_freya]

As a good rule of thumb, I usually make my chemises anywhere from 1.5 to 2 times as big in the width of the sleeves.

IE, I have an 18" diameter at my armhole.  For a 1.5 multiplication, this would give me a 27" width.  If I want to go up to 1.75 as big, that'd be 31.5" width.  If I want uber poofage at the sleeves for gathering, I'd multiply it by 2 to give me 36".

For the length, you could do the same, although I'd start with less of a multiplication.  I'd start somewhere around 1.25 for the length if I were you.

Hope that helps.

[isabelladangelo]

Hi Gem,

I think you might be over complexing the sleeves.     All you want to do is gather the top until the sleeve is the same width as the armscye.  So, sew the arm up with the gores already in place.  Sew the chemise side seams to about maybe 9 inches from the shoulder on either side.  (You might want to make it 10 inches depending on how fitted you want the sleeve to be around your arm.)  Measure the width of the sleeve + gore.  Just gather enough to get it to that 9 or 10" width (folded flat.  so you have 9" on one side, 9" on the back of the sleeve as well)  So if your sleeve is 15" wide (making it a total of 30" wide at the armscye), just gather the top until you can fold it flat and have a width of 10" (or 9") with the sleeve folded flat.  Does that make sense?

[Cilean]

I will use 1/2 have my sleeve length that I add to my sleeve.  So if my arm is 23" so I would I would then add 12" so it would be a total of 35" long and I add 4" on the width of my upper arm, to make sure this had enough room for poufy-ness!

I hope this helps
Cilean

[mollymishap]

Well, I'm going to suggest something totally different, since in my experience, it isn't the width that determines poufability as much as the length. 

SO, I'd take a scrap piece of fabric and pin it on to the sleeve sections until you like the pouf you get, then just measure that and add to the length of your arm & voila! 

I might also suggest permanently set-in poufs vs. using your chemise to create pouf, because otherwise, you'll be poufing all day.  Just take the measurement from the scrap-pouf test and make a section using the same chemise linen you intend on using for the actual chemise.  Then just finish the edges as you tack them down to the inside edge of your outer sleeve pieces. 

I've converted any of my sleeves that require pouf in this fashion and no-one has been the wiser.   It also means you have less bulk under the other sections and can wear a slimmer chemise underneath.  Less bulk=more comfort & less heat.  HTH!

[gem]

UPDATE

HUZZAH!!

Thanks to you lot, the chemise now has sleeves!

Every one of you added something useful to the mix, and by combining everything you said (plus pulling out the one I'd made already with this pattern and looking at it), I was able to put this baby together!

I went with the remaining width of my linen (about 27"), plus 12" to my arm length.  Then I figured out where the gusset attached to the *body,* marked that...

...And promptly forgot how to do French seams! LOL  The thing sat on my table for two more days while I debated which was the right side and which was wrong, and how to lay the pieces out.

Then tonight I decided the easiest thing was to sew up the sides, and then insert the sleeve.  When I had the gusset pinned in place, it was obvious how much gathering had to be done.

I think you might be over complexing the sleeves.

Isabella, I think there's no QUESTION of that!! LOL

I might also suggest permanently set-in poufs

Believe me, I considered that.  But I wanted to do one for real first, you know?  Next time, probably.

Gramercy, all!!

[nliedel]

And Ladies and Gentlemen, this is EXACTLY why I bow down to my mother in law in  thanks every time I use the serger she gave me Authenticity, or serger? Serger for me. WHEEEEEE!! Snort.

[gracefulcarrie]

I was just thanking my lucky stars for my serger last night too nliedel!  And it was because I am making Margo's low-necked smock but putting the puffy sleeves from the high-necked smock on it...
Soon hopefully it will all be together and I can finish the other dozen pieces I have going, but you are right I love that I have a serger now!