Taking 10 (or 20 or 30...)

I have been fiddling with the coat armsceye/sleeve pattern and I just had to walk away from it for a little while before I rip some tissue into little pieces and fling it into the air.

I mentioned that I found a drafting error when I was tracing the pattern...the side seam (which is shifted around to the back somewhat) doesn't match front-to-back.

And that seam dumps into the armsceye right where my problem is.

I even pulled out the original pattern to see if the boo-boo was there, or if I introduced it when I graded up/attempted to fix the original.

Nope. There is 1 3/4" too much sleeve between the shoulder dot (which is in front of the shoulder seam) and the underarm dot. And the double notches don't match.

I also checked the pattern guide and there is NO mention of easing this sleeve into place, so there is NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ANY EXTRA FABRIC THERE.

Grumble, grumble.

I looked again at the one review for this pattern on Pattern Review, and that reviewer made no mention of any problems with the sleeve. However, she used the middle size range for her project, so I suppose it's possible that the error is only in the larger sizes.


Grumble, grumble again.

It is made more difficult due to the fact that the seams in the jacket are offset from the seams in the sleeve, so it's a real trick to walk the seamlines.

I've shaved a bit off of the curve of the sleeve cap on the back, and I've shaved a bit out of the back armsceye, but I think I'm just going to have to rotate some fabric out of the sleeve back seam. And I'll probably run an ease line in it, although I'm not crazy about that. I just don't know if I have enough patience (or time) to keep tweaking it down to perfect.

Deep breaths here.

And, for anyone who has noticed the sudden jump in my 'fabric in' -- no, I have not succumbed to the siren call of the printed knits. I will be making Mantles for the HMC graduates again this year, and I've been stalking on line vendors watching for a sale I could apply to some black and white crepe-back satin for that purpose. Fabricdotcom had a suitable sale last week, so I got enough to make mantles for this year and hopefully next year as well.

So don't panic, Carolyn, I haven't let you down...yet ;)