The beautiful sleeve feature of Lekala #4370

... and how to sew it!

You can get Lekala patterns via Etsy too

I think I figured it out. The instructions on how to insert the top of the sleeve into Lekala blouse pattern #4370 are not very helpful at all.

This is what it says:

"6. [...] Pin sleeve, right side together, and sew on short vertical edge from mark upwards. Snip front and back between dart lines from shoulder seam to horizontal marks. Sew section of shoulder seam, from slashed section exactly to sleeve connection line, inserting sewn section of sleeve. Serge seam allowance. Sew shoulder edge to neckline. Serge seam allowance. Lay upper section of sleeve (epaulette) on front and back, evenly distribute the width. Sew the dart of back and front with one seam, catching upper edge of epaulette. Serge seam allowance."

WHAT???

That makes absolutely no sense. The part that I left out (denoted as [...]) reads: "Turn lower edge of sleeve twice inside at 0.5cm and topstitch. Trim seam allowances on sleeve in corners according to marks."

Let's take that one at a time: "Turn lower edge... etc... and topstitch" must be about hemming the sleeve. 'lower edge of sleeve' equals sleeve hem, got it. I didn't do that - I don't like how double-folded hems pucker and won't lie flat. I think they are ugly and way too tricky to sew. I like my baby hems but then I am very lucky to own an overlocker: I overlock the raw edge, machine baste my intended folding line using a 0.5cm stitch length, press the seam allowance over with the iron, folding at exactly the basted stitch line (makes it easier to fold over too, it's not just a great guide) - this shrinks the seam allowance in curved bits so it's all good. Then I edge-stitch the hem by machine an even amount from the hem edge, depending on the weight of the fabric: thin fabrics closer like 1mm, and others with a bit more of a distance: 2-3mm (I haven't done this with chunky fabric, it might be better to use an inner facing [maybe out of a thinner fabric that colour matches?] instead of folding the edge in)

Next point in the left-out bit: "Trim seam allowances on sleeve in corners according to marks." - This is the bit I understood! Yay me. There are short diagonal marks within the seam allowance only in the corner between the epaulette part (I called it the rectangle at the top of the sleeve head. Okay-dokey 'epaulette' is shorter, let's go with that) and either side of the sleeve. That needs to be snipped (staying within the seam allowance, you don't want to slash into your blouse's visible sleeve fabric), otherwise those corners just won't sew well and it would look terrible even if you managed that. And yeah, stating 'trim' is not the same as 'snip' but I think that's the poor translation at work.

So far so good. Where the instructions lost me was: "Pin sleeve, right side together..." ...and my brain went: What??? What the hell is that supposed to mean?  I think the clue actually lies in "sleeve" instead of "sleeves" - I didn't catch that the first two dozen times when I read that. (And I think it should say "right sides together", there ain't just one if it's two things being put together)

Where the instructions fall down severely is that there isn't much in the way of marks on the sewing pattern. There are those diagonal marks (yep, found that, that's cool) and there are also horizontal marks that intersect the darts, both on the front and on the back piece. But there is absolutely no placement line for where that blasted epaulette is to go!  (The counter part to the sleeve notches are also missing on the front and the back piece pattern pieces. Tut. But you can wing that)

That's a really bad pattern design.

I had decided that the epaulette part would have to be stitched on top of the outer part of the front and back piece across the shoulder seam. There is no rectangular shape that the epaulette edges fit to. On the other hand there is no need to have only one layer of fabric at the top of the shoulders if it is easier to just sew one layer on top of another. I'm fine with that.

But why in god's name can't there be placement lines? That's what I want to know. It would save a lot of headache.  The other desing downfall of the pattern is that the sleeve pattern piece is not marked about which side goes towards the front and which the back. That's terrible.

I worked out that the shorter, more curved side goes towards the front, and the longer, less curved side towards the back. That works. In fact the initial curves (at the outside corners, where you sew the lengthwise sleeve edges together, the point where that seam hits the body side seam) do actually fit very well into the armhole (again: the missing notches are not desperately needed). Success!

But then... blimey! At some point you have a heck of a lot of sleevehead edge that's excessively long and that's to be fitted into the normal sized armhole? No-one said anything about gathering and the pattern drawing doesn't show that either. So how is that supposed to work?

The bit where it says "evenly distribute the width" does not express the same as 'gathering' and I decided it just means to place the width evenly across where you're going to stitch it down. But flat. Definitely flat and ungathered.

And here's where the light bulb suddenly came on: "Pin sleeve, right side together" - that's just one sleeve, and you pin one bit of this sleeve to another bit of itself! Seeing as the text continues with: "sew on short vertical edge from mark upwards", and the mark was those short diagnoal marks in the corner that were snipped, it must mean sew one of the short vertical edges (of the epaulette) to the other short vertical edge of the sleeve - in effect producing a box pleat!

Flipping heck!! Couldn't they just say so?

The flat width of the epaulette (from stitch line to stitch line) is 20.3cm. The distance of marks across the front dart to the mark across the back dart (once the shoulder seam is closed which you're not supposed to just yet) is 10.4cm - not quite half of the 20.3cm but what with turn of cloth, this works out as near as damn it: sewing right side to right side of the short vertical edge must mean that you end up with half the epaulette width!

Bingo.

Phew!  I think I figured this one out.  There might still be some other surprises in this project to do with the sleeves but I think I've got the most difficult puzzle solved.  Where the 'snip' and 'slash' instructions are concerned: forgive me but I don't think I'll do that. I think they ask you to cut the exact center along the length of the darts (not too far) but that leaves very little fabric on either side once you closed those darts "catching upper edge of epaulette", this could so easily fray in these areas - ruining a beautiful blouse. So the top edge of the epaulette gets inserted through the slash in the fabric between the dart legs? Why do I need to do that? Can't I just sew the upper epaulette edge to this placement line of the dart legs that are closest to the body centre? It'll keep that folded in seam allowance on top of the right side of the body fabric but that's hidden at the top of the sleeves, no-one is going to see that, at least not without gusts of wind.

"Snip" and "slash", yikes. No, I'd rather not, thanks all the same.

I shall report how I get on with the rest of this.

PS: In case you are wondering why I am going to the trouble of persevering with this very challenging pattern: not only is the drawing of the blouse very pretty but the real thing is even nicer! I am using a slightly heavyish  polycotton that drapes very nicely and those sleeves are just gorgeous!  They fall into the most amazing shape and I've not even sewn them in properly yet. I can tell from holding my 'box pleated' sleevehead to the blouse. Gorgeous I tell you!

I would love to do another version of this blouse - maybe with a back opening and a high rounded front neckline... Hmm...