Sample Sleeve

Sample Sleeve

I have also developed my learning through drafting a sleeve that is suitable for a ballet dancers needs for the sleeve needs to have a much shallower head to make it a closer fit to the dancer to allow for movement.

After researching regency puffed sleeves I drew inspiration from the type of sleeves that Degas dancers would have worn.

To create a puffed sleeve I had to draft my pattern wider to allow for the gather stitch. I used the basic female block as a basic shape and then redrafted it to create a shallower head and a wider sleeve.

At first I was going to create the puffed effect by pleating the sleeve so I made a toile to see whether it would work. However, I found that the pleats made the sleeve lie flat and when I did try to make it more puffed by making it tighter on the arm, I lost the shapes of the pleats. Therefore, I decided the only way I was going to get the volume was through gather stitch. Although this meant I would have to redraft my pattern through making this mistake I have learnt to develop my ability to problem solve. I also realised that I would have to make the head of the sleeve much shallower, at that the gather stitch should go from Seam to Seam on the sleeve. Also to make a better puffed shape the length of the sleeve also needed to be shorter.

So I redrafted the pattern I decided to make my sample sleeve from cotton voile because it is so soft, delicate, and moveable it will create a costume that reflects Degas dancers.

I then gathered using gather stitch 5, the top of the sleeve with two seams and the bottom of the sleeve with only one. I also cut two inside sleeves from net to help hold the gathers in place. I gathered the top sleeve and net sleeves equally.

I then decided to add a little decoration and sewed the sleeve together so that it looked like this;

I am pleased with the shape I have created I think it reflects the regency puffed sleeves well. It does look very delicate and reflects Degas dancers well. I have enjoyed this because I was able to work this out on my own developing my independent learning.