Sleeves

[elthefairy]

I'm drafting a chemise and I want sleeves that are king of assymetrical. Like if you drop your arms, a little longer on the outside than the inside. I also want a tie around the arm and it to have more fabric above the tie. If this doesn't really make sense, I drew the kind of thing I want: http://imgur.com/I1oUaSw How would I draft this? Also, could I for the tie part, just use some yarn and tie it around?

[isabelladangelo]

You have a couple of different options for this type of fantastical sleeve.  Buy Simplicity 4940 and copy that sleeve.  Or check out the ones I drew in the amazing Paint tool below:


sleeve options par Isabella, on ipernity

The one to the left is assuming that you are doing a traditional historic type chemise body.   The one on the right is assuming you are doing a modern type chemise body (with armscyes).  For drafting a normal sleeve - which you can use as your base and then work it out from there, check out my blog post here: http://isabelladangelo.blogspot.com/2014/04/drafting-sleeve.html

The dotted lines in my amazing Paint drawing are where the ties would go.   

The biggest issue you will have with having it being longer on the outside will be doing anything with your hands.  Like eating, drinking, or even using the facilities.   The ones I drafted above show the length to the inside because otherwise, you will have issues.  If you are serious about having the length to the outside and have actually thought this through, then have the bottom of the sleeve curve up rather than down. 

[Rowan MacD]

  Along with Isabella's pattern above-consider making sleeve garters as a possible alternate to ties.
  Not HA but oh, so handy. 
  During the industrial revolution; they were used extensively by book keepers, printers or anybody working around machines, or near things that would soil long sleeves easily.

  You can make them from a piece of trim sewn down to a piece of elastic, rather then sew them to the sleeve itself.   
  They are handy for hitching your sleeves out of harms way while you use the necessary, and you also don't need to tie them.   They can also be moved anywhere up or down the sleeve as you need them.

[elthefairy]

Thanks guys for the advice and the lovely paint drawing! Since they're going to be a pain, I guess I'll just stick to regular sleeves, but still use a tie or the band Rowen mentioned.

[gem]

This is my absolute favorite chemise:



https://elizabethcbunce.wordpress.com/historical-costuming/purple-damask-kirtle/

I didn't make it, so I can't really advise on the construction, except to say that there's an elastic casing instead of a tie, made by a strip of ribbon sewn all along the inside, roughly mid-biceps. A drawstring would work, too. I have other chemises with similar sleeves of varying lengths (including this one); I don't find them annoying unless the chemise is overall too large. But in the case of my favorite chemise, the sleeve length is really ideal for Fair--it's long enough (just to the wrist) to be frothy and fun, but also short enough to be light and airy and cool, and the elastic makes it so I can adjust the length/poof at will. Frankly, I find it quite a bit *less* annoying than, say, this chemise, or indeed sleeve garters (which I adore just because they're fun and a great way to incorporate trim, but which do tend to wander about a bit).

As far as historical accuracy, we see similar sleeves (although likely allegorical) in Holbein's St. Barbara:



So although they aren't particularly practical and may not have ever appeared in anyone's real clothing, they would certainly not have been outside the realm of imagination for the period. 

...And speaking of sleeve garters!
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Master_of_Female_Half-length_-_Concert_of_Women_-_1530-40.png

(Although now that I see that hers have slipped down to her forearms, as well, I feel better about mine! Ha!)

(For whatever reason, links/embedded photos are not appearing correctly in my preview, so I do hope everything works correctly!)

[isabelladangelo]

Actually Gem, the chemise for St Barbara is shown in several other portraits.

 



What it is is just a regular Italian style chemise but without the wrist being bound into a cuff.   It's just a big rectangle.  You'll often see them as rolled up sleeves in paintings during the early 16th century. 

The ones on your chemise are more like the left pattern I drew.