I have been doing a series of sleeves, trying to eliminate that binding I get with forward arm movement.

But let me back up a bit.

First I did this blue floral blouse of cotton/lycra.

I know that it isn’t smart to use lycra when you’re still working out the fit, but I was ready to end up with a wearable garment!
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Look at the poufiness at the release of the back shoulder dart. Even before I put the sleeves in, I could see that that would NOT do! So I redrafted and reduced the BACK SHOULDER WIDTH by .5” to reduce the width of that bk. sh. dart by .25”, also reducing the BSS slightly to maintain the height of the shoulder point at this narrower width. BETTER.











Eventually, I eliminated the shoulder dart entirely…I cannot remember exactly what I did, but there is no dart sewn now. I should take immediate notes, as I forget too easily! Anyway, the blouse has no bk sh dart at all and is smoother across the upper back.

Armhole Depth: 0.25
Dart Override: 0

Sleeve Cap Ease: 1.38
Sleeve Cap Height Adj: -0.75
Back Armhole Shape Down: -0.1 clicks
Back Armhole Shape Right: 0.3 clicks**then was changed to--
Back Armhole Shape Right: 0.5 clicks after making the shoulder narrower

Chest Circumference: 41.5
Back Shoulder Width: 16.25**this was changed from 16.75
Neck Circumference: 13
Natural Waist: 34
Hip Circumference: 40.5
Crotch Length: 29
Height: 66
Weight:
Bra Cup Size: B
Center Front Length: 15.5
Front Shoulder Width: 15
Front Shoulder Slope: 19
Shoulder Length: 5.125
Center Back Length: 16.25
Back Shoulder Slope: 17.25**changed from 17.375
Bicep Circumference: 12


Ok, so, I cut and inserted the sleeves. Hmmm. Not perfect…there were still some odd folds…still poufy back there. And the SHOULDER POINT is way too far toward the back! Like, by nearly an inch! Oh dear. Plus, the armholes are not just right. I couldn’t put my finger on it exactly, but there was something ‘off’. The balance between front and back AHs is off…look at how the garment raises up with arm movement!

Plus, the blouse was too tight in the hips! This caused pulls toward the sideseam...like I need a few MORE pulls! Somewhere along the way I had reduced my hip size...trying to use REAL numbers as opposed to using what had worked in the past. Dummy me. I have increased the number for the future.

I only had a little more of this fabric so I needed to make sure I was comfortable with the pattern before I cut the rest of it!

That is when I decided to put this fabric aside, and pull out the throw-away stuff! I will come back and make something from this stuff once I know what it is that I want to do.