Are You Kidding Me?

This sleeve requires sewing gymnastics. First, there are three pieces for the outer shell. Inside is an interfacing plus three pieces of lining fabric.

The murky directions have us seam the shell pieces together and baste the interfacing along the inside of the cuff.

Then, we sew the ribbon trim along the cuffs and hem the cuff so the trim creates a neat border at the wrist. So far, so good.

Inside of shell. 

Next we assemble the lining pieces.

Here's where things get interesting. A normal lined sleeve would have us seam lining to the sleeve at the cuffs with wrong sides facing out so the whole thing can be turned right-side-out. So easy, so neat.

Our girl Coco had a different approach involving lots of hand sewing. First we sew the inside seam allowances together with wrong sides facing each other. Next, we sew along the quilting lines to join the shell and lining. Then we seam the shell. Because everything is sewn together on the inside, it is impossible to finish the inside with a machine. To create a neat and beautiful lining, we press the lining fabric along the seam allowances and hand-stitch everything closed.

I spent six hours on my muslin just trying to figure out how to make this work and ripped everything apart at least three times before I got it.

 

I don't know if the sleeves will fit, but I'm feeling glad that I didn't jump right in and cut my beautiful couture fabric.