Comments on: Sleeve Fitting for Movement – or Victorian BFFs

By: How to Set in a Sleeve – Historical Sewing

How to Set in a Sleeve – Historical Sewing — Sat, 06 Aug 2022 17:18:19 +0000

[…] Before you get to the sewing stage of sleeves, make sure you have fit your pattern and reduced any fullness for a better look. Is the underarm part high enough for movement? […]

By: A Talk on Shirt Waists (cutting and fitting suggestions from 1914) – 24Washington

Thu, 30 Apr 2020 20:50:40 +0000

[…] Sleeve Fitting for Movement – or Victorian BFFs […]

By: SewMamma

SewMamma — Sat, 20 Jul 2019 15:33:52 +0000

Daughter needed a woven (brocade) jacket to ice skate in. We’re talking jumps here. The higher the arms – the better the jump. Sure wish I had this article then. I did find info on the flamingo dress arm alterations, adding gussets, which helped expand my abilities. Final outcome – good enough for one show but will probably go back in to incorporate a band of 4-way stretch ‘color accent’ around the bodice arm opening.

By: Jennifer Rosbrugh

Jennifer Rosbrugh — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 17:48:31 +0000

In reply to kay. I have made my own modern clothes since I was a young teen (over 30 years). After doing so many Victorian bodices, I now do a lot of armhole alterations on those modern patterns for a better fit. It works nicely!

By: kay

kay — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 03:45:41 +0000

Thank you for writing this article! I inadvertently ended up with the kind of armscye and sleeve shaping you talk about here on a modern basic bodice (though it’s eventually going to be the base for historic patterns too!) and kind of thought I was going crazy because it sure makes for odd-looking pattern pieces, but it works so well. It’s reassuring to hear that someone else has worked out the same thing and that it works for you! 🙂 (And for anyone else who might come across this, I guess this is confirmation that yes, you would also be able to do this on modern clothes…)

By: Jennifer Rosbrugh

Jennifer Rosbrugh — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 22:22:47 +0000

In reply to Gabrielle. Yay! So excited for you. :-)

By: Gabrielle

Gabrielle — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 21:36:16 +0000

Thank you! This article helped me so much 🙂 I was struggling with my Victorian Bodice and I just had a Eureka! Moment after reading this 🙂

By: iSABELLE

iSABELLE — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 15:23:59 +0000

A couple of years ago, in my own quest for sleeves that let you move, I thought about Flamenco dresses. If you're not familiar with that dance style, it is a Spanish/gypsy dance that traditionally has the women in very fitted dresses - but they very often have both hands far over their head. So I thought that they must have solved the problem. And I did indeed find a very helpful web article. The gist of it is this: You don't want to raise the armhole way up, since that's where you sweat. So to make up for it, you have to change the sleeve shape. You end up with more material underneath the armpit than we're used to, but the full movement range totally makes up for it in my opinion. Check out her article - there are very helpful diagrams showing how to change a normal pattern into one that lets you move...