Saturday, February 9, 2013

A frock-sewing dilemma...

So I've been working on my polka-dotted New Look 6000 dress I gave you a sneak peek of a few days ago. Everything was going swimmingly, until I got to some of the last steps - the sleeves!



What first drew me to this pattern, when I bought it like 2 years ago, was the cute collar and cuff options. Well, for this version, I'm making view E - no collar, but with the cute cuffs. Or, at least, that's what I'd planned. Now that I've got the sleeves on, and have tried on the dress-in-progress, I'm really not liking the look of the 3/4 length sleeves and can't imagine I'll be any happier with them once the cuffs are attached. Standing in front of the mirror, I started rolling up one of the sleeves...



...and I actually quite liked the shorter length. It's not nearly as short as the other, cap-sleeved option in the pattern, and seems just right to me. I'm also liking that this length and silhouette of sleeve would work well with layering under cardigans, which the pointy (but cute) cuff I'd originally planned for would not do.








However, I'm undecided on the cuffed look of a rolled-up sleeve. Should I use some contrasting fabric? Or maybe go for little ties, like Sunni did on her adorable shirt-dress? Maybe no cuffs at all, but just cut the sleeve to the length it's currently rolled to? I can't decide - please help!

What would you do?

10 comments:

  1. If you don't like the 3/4ths length, definitely just shorten the sleeves to a length you like.

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  2. Definitely shorten and I think some sort of cuff would look cute.

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  3. I like the idea of the shorter length with a cuff. :)

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  4. I think shorter length would look great on you.

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  5. Hmm, on the recent dress I made, it had short sleeves like your rolled ones. The hem of them was faced... I found the sleeves stuck out a bit under my lightweight cardigan. I thought maybe next time it would be better to lose the facing and finish it with bias tape to make them as soft as possible.

    So if you're planning on layering it, maybe that would be a thought? :) I would probably not use a cuff or contrast for that reason :)

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  6. I loved the shape of the cuffs you put on your polka-dot peony (I've got it saved on pinterest for inspiration!) and think it'd look lovely on this one too. I love the colour of this fabric and the yellow belt matches so perfectly!

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  7. I would do the shorter length with the cuff.

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  8. Aw, I love how this dress is turning out Sue - the spots are so cute! How about making cuffs like one of the pins in the board you linked to in your post (Sewing - frocks,details, inspiration) (http://pinterest.com/pin/41517627784621056/) Not sure if that link I just posted will work, but it's a curved/scalloped cuff on a beige top/dress with green/orange/yellow flower pattern.

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  9. I'm with Katherine - a shaped cuff sleeve like on your peony would be divine! I definitely like the shorter lenght of the two :)

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  10. If you prefer the shorter length, then go with your gut reaction! While 3/4 and cuffs are cute, they are incredibly hard to layer. So if I'd want to wear it in winter/spring/fall and know I usually need an upper layer (which I do...) I'd skip the cuffs. It will look great regardless! Maybe Johanna's idea with using bias strip, but in contrast fabric?

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