17.5.18

Stylearc Elani Tunic mash-up

I have had a few instances where a woven garment with an extended sleeve has ripped horizontally under the armscye.  Sadly, my Stylearc Autumn dress ripped the first time I wore it.  (I have since repaired it and changed the sleeve to a cap sleeve).

I like the style of the Elani tunic, but decided I needed to put in a proper sleeve, to give me a little more room for movement.  I have done quite a bit of pattern drafting, but I am not all that experienced with drafting sleeves, so I went looking for a pattern in my stash that had the sort of sleeve I wanted.  I thought that a slightly dropped shoulder would suit the vibe of the Elani tunic.  Upon trawling through my pattern stash, I found that there are not too many patterns out there for a slightly dropped sleeve.  There are plenty for a fully dropped sleeve, but I thought I would have the same problems with that as I do with extended sleeve, given that the fully dropped sleeve appears to be tacked onto an extended sleeve anyway.  Eventually, I stumbled on Burda 5/2011 #111, which had the sort of sleeves I was looking for.


I sewed the facing down on the inside, as per in the instructions.  It can be tricky to get the facing to match up well with the garment, in my experience, so usually I don't do this, but it worked out okay this time.  I changed the sleeve hem to a double fold hem, turned up, rather than use a sleeve facing.  Looks like I might need to add a bit more room for my prominent shoulder bones.


You can see the sleeve seam in the photo below.  I kept the original high low hem of the Elani.


The fabric is a rayon challis from Imagine Gnats

I have fallen off the wagon with Me-Made-May due to illness, but this top has featured twice already.

 

4 comments:

Summer Flies said...

I find I like the look of the dropped shoulder or extended shoulder but I find the big area at the armpit really restrictive. You've done a good job.

KS_Sews (Dressmakingbacles) said...

This is really great. And I love it with the white jeans and chunky necklace!

Hope you feel better soon.

AllisonC said...

This looks great, really cool and breezy, but with lots of styling options.

Sue said...

Looks like a great addition to the wardrobe!