and we're off! First VPLL 1912 project pattern!

Robin must be psychic!  She recently asked me why so many of the project volunteers were buying fabric since we didn't know what kind of pattern we would get.  What if we got a blouse?  Well, Robin, the answer is......wait for it......we got a blouse!  A really pretty blouse.

We will be double blogging at VPLL 1912 Project  as LisaandRobin

Time crunch - Sleeves are mostly fixed - L

I had such great plans for this weekend.  I was going to fix sleeves, start cartridge pleating, and fix the tea dress muslin.  And go out to dinner on Friday, go on a gull identification walk, and a school fundraising 'event' on Saturday, AND have 6 people for a birthday dinner on Sunday.  I didn't even get to the laundry.

I did however get the sleeves 'fixed' on my blouse.  The major problem was that they were just too short.  I had the option of taking them out and re-doing them or trying to make them longer.  Since the blouse is sort of Edwardian and the sleeves are full at the top, I opted to add fabric above the elbow and try to disguise the addition.
The hardest part, by far, was picking a spot to cut.

I wanted to make sure it was visually level...mostly.  I have no experience with this and wasn't sure how much it would impact the look of the sleeve.  I tried to imagine where I would have added with the pattern.  I'd already made so many changes to the sleeve, holding up the pattern didn't actually help.
Basically, the decision was to cut level to the bottom of the sleeve but above the elbow.  Next I had to decide how much to add, and how I would add it.  I decided to add pleats to disguise the seam lines.  This would also allow me to enclose the seam within the pleat so it wouldn't show.  And I decided on 1/2 inch pleats.  I wanted to add 3 inches, so the piece I added was 6 inches wide (3 inch length + 1 inch each for pleats + 1 inch for seam allowances).  And after I added it, I didn't like it!  So I added more.

I added lace sewn under the edge of each pleat (same lace that I used at the wrist).  I hand sewed the lace so I could simultaneously tack the underside of the pleat to the body of the sleeve.  They were trying to fold 'up'.

Now I'm happy with them.  Off course now that the sleeve fits, I have to add another button near the wrist, and make the button loop smaller. I had left the wrist opening really big/loose because the sleeve was too short.

I still need to re-cut the muslin for the tea dress.  I really want to start cartridge pleating the skirt of my renaissance dress.  And I need to get all this done before we get our first pattern from the 1912 project.

The 1912 project has gotten huge!  There are now 400 people.  We have not got a pattern yet, but when we do, I'm sure I'll get excited and focus on that to the detriment of everything else.  I'm bad that way.  Really bad.  Like 'mom, I don't have any clean clothes' bad.....