Saturday, February 7, 2009

Burda 02-2009 #118 Puff Sleeve Top and Tutorial

Wow, I need to start doing something with my hair on Saturdays. I made two of these tops today. You will only get to see one on me. The other one got chucked in the bin. I like the overall shape of it but the arms were a bitch to sew. Below you'll find a picture tutorial of what I did. No, it's not pretty but it worked.


I love this fabric. It's a wool/blend jersey. It's apple green with white/grey stripes running through it.



Okay, here she goes. I skipped taking pictures of the steps leading up to this one because they are pretty straight forward. For sake of clarity, I will call the gathered part of the sleeve The Sleeve and the part that it's gathered onto The Inside Sleeve. BWOF uses the same lingo for those parts and it's important later. Trust me on this. Gather the sleeve onto the inside sleeve and sew those onto the bodice pieces. Make sure you match the shoulder notches and the front notch on piece #1.


Put the front yoke right sides together (RST) with the front bodice/sleeves. I would notch the middle of the bodice and the middle of the front piece. There is some stretching to be done and that makes it a lot easier. Only sew from notch #5 to notch #5 on the other side.


Sew your side seams. I note notch #5 on most of the pictures below just to give you a reference point. In the picture below, you don't really need it but I labelled it anyway.

Sew from notch #5 to the side seam line. You are attaching it to the sleeves only -- not the inside sleeve. Sew just to the side seam line and get as close as possible.
Now, this is were it gets confusing and hard (if someone knows a better way, let us know!). Start at the side seam and sew around the sleeves with them RST. You only ever sew two layers at once. First you start in the middle with the sleeves and as you work your way around, you cross over and begin sewing the inside sleeve. It gets harder and harder because you are sewing yourself into a hole. Try to make it to notch #10. Sewing this way makes your sleeve turn inside itself and now you have to carefully turn it back right sides out.

This is what mine looks like on the inside. Not pretty, I know.
But, the outside looks nice.


Here's the one that didn't make it. I tried for an hour to rip threads out of stretch velour. For-get-it. I may make another one in this fabric because it was/is beautiful but I was destroying the fabric trying to tear it out.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dawn - I have to say, I read your blog religiously!! When I see a new item in Google Reader, I get all excited wondering what you have created THIS time!! Have you ever considered teaching sewing classes? If you already do, could you let me know where?! If not, would you consider it? I think you are so talented and MOTIVATED that you would make a wonderful instructor.
Thanks for listening to my comments...feel free to reply on my blog if you'd like or drop me an email at kittycollector.

Anonymous said...

Great tee Dawn - it's definitely on my wishlist.
Before attaching the lower front and back to the upper parts, can you sew the underarm seams together, then the lower body sideseams together, then sew the lower body to the upper body all in one go matching the underarm seams to the sideseams of the lower body? I don't have a copy of the Feb issue yet, so it's kinda hard to visualise the whole thing.
Elizabeth

cidell said...

Thanks for the tutorial. This one is definitely on my list!

Rachel said...

Thank you for doing this tutorial. I was reading the instructions last night for this top, and when I got to the part where the sleeves were described, I said to myself, WHAT?!?! I will definitely be referring to this tutorial when I make this.

Little Hunting Creek said...

That is one cute tshirt. Great tutorial. That one caught my daughter's eye and she wants one too.

judy said...

I was waiting for you to make this shirt! I saw it and really liked it in bwof and had a feeling you would be making it. Definitely seems to be more trouble than I would have ever thought just looking at the garment! Thanks for the info, the other one you gave up on, looked gorgeous, too bad it didn't work....maybe it could have normal sleeves??

Christina said...

Thanks for pioneering the way on this top! It turned out so cute, I know I'll be referencing your tute when I try this top myself.

angie.a said...

I'll be giving it a go today too. All ready to cut out & start...Christas review gave me pause. Now I've paused again. :D I actually thought I understood (visualized) the instructions when I read them, but seeing your pictures I'm wondering WTH? That #10 section has me worried!

Angelia said...

This was on my BWOF list this month but I'm re thinking now... might be to much trouble for a Tee.
I like my basics to be 'basic to sew'!!! I get so frustrated with things that look simple.. but aren't!
Thanks so much for posting it!!! Good woman!!! You might have saved some fabric from the trash today!! lol!!

Melissa said...

That turned out very cute, but it looks like such a pain. I will definitely reference your advice if/when I make it. BTW, I don't have your email so I couldn't personally reply to your question about the Jalie vs. Burda boat neck, sorry. Anyway, I do have a tracing of the Jalie, but have never made it. I am not sure where it is at the moment so I can't compare them for you, sorry. I am extremely happy with the fit of the Burda top tho, it's perfect for my shape. HTH's!

2BSewing: said...

OMG! Thank you for the tutorial. I was going to include this top in my personal SWAP. I read the BWOF instructions several times and decided to remove this top from my plan. It has a lot of potential. I should go ahead and try this anyways, right?

Jacqui said...

Thank you for the pictures! I'm still a bit confused but I think it will come together if I get to making this top soon.

Cennetta said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cennetta said...

Great tutorial. Great looking tops. My "to do list" is growing.

Cindy May said...

ok dawn real important, Did you attach the inner sleeve's raw edge to the gathered sleeve/yoke seam prior to attaching the lower front to the bodice/sleeve piece?