Got one of the sleeves on last night and could not resist putting it on to get a glimpse of what the finished coat would look like and had a bit of a shock. If you go back and look at the photos of the muslin, you'll see that the finished sleeve length hits right about the bottom of my thumb joint...which would be about right for an overcoat.
I was really surprised, since I almost ALWAYS have to shorten sleeves.
But that looked good. So I made no alterations.
And last night, when I put on the one-armed coat, I found that the finished sleeve length hit about the tip of my thumbnail.
Whhaaattt???
I did put the muslin on over a sweatshirt, since I wanted to make sure it had ample ease for wearing over a bulky underlayer. The only explanation I can come up with is that the muslin fabric just didn't slide over the sweatshirt fleece totally and I didn't catch it.
But I went to work today, thinking in my head about how simple it will be to shorten the sleeves, especially since I caught it before I had them both on.
I came home, put the unattached sleeve on the ironing board and suddenly was confronted with a detail I had forgotten.
I'd put a lovely bit of fusible interfacing on the hem. To fix it properly..., well, I'm not sure I can fix it properly, since I will not have to remove enough length to cut away all the interfacing. But I definitely want interfacing on that hemline.
So...the only other alternative would be to shorten the sleeve from the top. Which is probably do-able, I just haven't done it before.
Or, do I just leave the extra length, knowing that it will allow me plenty of ease for bulk in chilly weather?
Oy...
I wouldn't do anything until you've put the other sleeve in. The coat may have not been balanced from side to side with one sleeve.
ReplyDeleteThe draw back to shortening from the top is you loose sleeve width at the underarm. Could you do a slightly deeper hem, say 1/2" more, and shorten the lining the same? Of course that depends on the depth of the interfacing in the hem. Like you said, oy!
I did wonder about putting the 2nd sleeve on; just to see if that made a difference. The sleeve is plenty wide; I don't think I'll lose too much at the top if I move it up.
DeleteOr, I might cut off all the interfacing and use a 1" hem instead of a 1 1/2" hem on the sleeve. Still thinking.
And I have been known to overshorten sleeves on a top layer; what looks good on a hanging arm is sometimes too short on one that's bent carrying stuff... this weekend is superduper busy anyway, so I'm gonna have lots of thinking time before I have time to work on it.