Tiramisu Sleeve Hack

Whoo hoo! I finished my first sewalong and it was AMAZING!!! Thank you Steph!! I really enjoyed interacting with everyone on Flickr and seeing you all persevere to get a good fit, which also pushed me to get beyond "ok fit" to much "better fit". The next Tira I will shoot for BEST FIT!
Anyways, we are here to make sleeves!

Beautiful Poofy sleeves!!

First their provenance, somewhere online I ran into Elizabeth's T-shirt Project. On her pinterest board I fell in love with this top on Etsy.

I decided they would be perfect sleeves to use on my fall Tiramisu, since the solid red is a lightweight cottonish fabric. I wanted it to be long sleeved and figured the cuffs would add a double layer of fabric warmth plus being tight around my wrist to keep those cold winds out.

Now without more ado, directions for the hack!

1. You will have already chosen your size and made all other alterations needed, (bust, bicep, etc). 

2. Find the spot where your arm connects to your shoulder. You can do this by lifting your arm and marking the crease that forms. 

3. Measure from that shoulder point to a couple of inches below your elbow. This will be measurement A. ( I was about 13 inches)

4. On Bodice Front piece, line your ruler's short edge on the pattern's grain line and the long edge on the shoulder mark of the pattern. Draw a straight line out the length of measurement A.

5. Position your ruler in the bottom of the armpit curve and slanting away from the pattern sleeve. Draw a long line out. Our goal is to add lots of fullness.

The shape we are going for on bodice front.

6. Square your ruler at measurement A with the shoulder line and draw a straight line down intersecting with the armpit line. Mark this measurement (sleeve line) for the next step.

7. Repeat with the back pattern piece. Measure the sleeve opening and draw the straight sleeve line before drawing the armpit line. 

Bodice back sleeve.

8. Finish dress according to instructions omitting the sleeve binding steps. Once you have sewn your side seams continue with the hack.

9. Measure your wrist and the largest part of your arm you want the cuff to come to. Make sure the fabric will stretch to your bicep. This will give you your cuff's width. (My wrist was 6 inches and the largest part of my arm was 10 inches. I cut my cuff at 7 inches wide.)

10. Put your dress on and measure where the full sleeve hits your arm to where you want the cuff to end. The higher the cuff the bigger the poof drape. (I wanted a cuff 6 inches long) Double this measurement and add an inch for seam allowance and sleeve growth. This is your cuff length. (Mine was 13 inches)

11. Cut a long rectangle with the stretch running the WIDTH of your piece. (Mine was a 7 x 13 inch rectangle with the stretch running the same direction as the 7 inches)

Note: (Now you basically put the cuff together just as you would add a cuff or band to any knit garment, Renfrew is the perfect example.)

12. Sew or serge up the long side of the cuffs, right sides together. You will have two long skinny tubes double the length you want.

13. Fold the cuffs WRONG sides together and pin mark it in fourths.

14. Baste around the long sleeve opening gathering it to fit to the cuff. Right sides together, sew the gathered sleeve to cuff, stretching cuff slightly. (My knit is not super stretchy).

Voila! You now have poofy cuffed sleeves that wrap tight and cozy around your little wrists so no cold air will come in and bite you! Plus they are super pretty!

I apologize for the lack of photos. This is my first tutorial and I'm still figuring things out. Please leave a comment below if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them. Please send me a link if you end up making them so I can see how they turn out with different fabrics. Will a heaver knit make the poof larger or totally deflate it?

I hope this adds lots of fun to your wardrobe and a new look so you can make yet another version of Tiramisu!