Tutorial 7 - Sew Puffed Sleeves onto Vest Top

Tutorial 7

Puffed Sleeves onto Vest Top

I love tops with Puffed Sleeves.

Worn under sleeveless tops and dresses they can transform a look.

To make this great Puffed Sleeve Top I used 3 £6 Vest Tops from Top Shop.

It cost me £18 and about 2hrs of my time.

I bought 3 Vest Tops mine are from Top Shop but you can get from Uni Qlo, M&S or John Lewis most clothes shops sell them

1 in your size and 2 larger ones to use for the fabric.

1. Using the large vest tops for the sleeves we lay them 1 at a time out on the floor. Measure 15ins for the length of the sleeve and cut a shape similar to above.

A good tip is to cut the sleeve off an old T shirt to use as a guide.

Lay the cut out sleeve on the 2nd vest top and cut to make

You should end up with 2 sleeve pieces the same

2. Starting about 3ins from the beginning and using your largest straight stitch, sew a line all the way round the sleeve head stopping same distance awayon other side.(see below)

Using the under thread, start gently pulling to gather the sleeve head until it more or less looks like it will fit the armhole of the vest top.

3. Line up centre seam of sleeve with centre shoulder sleeve of vest top, (with the sleeve fabric the right way up and the vest top fabric).

Put your machine to a big zig zag stitch and start sewing slightly stretching the vest top a little as you go.

When you get to the under arm seam you can keep going, but sometimes it's easier to stop and see what you have done and if you need to make any adjustments to the gathering at the back.

Then when you're ready, start again at the top working your way round.

Cut off excess fabric from around inside top part of sleeve as the strap is narrow here and you don't want to see and raw edges.

You could stop at this stage and have huge cape effect sleeves or if they had been shorter then they could be 'Bell Shaped' sleeves.

OR.....you could just tie a knot on the centre seam, leaving enough room to get your arm through this looks great!

But if you want big puff sleeves continue...........
4. Make a little slit with your sissors near the inside seam on the hem.
Get some elastic the correct width to fill the hem (I used 9mm).

Using a safety pin, thread the elastic through the hem gathering as you go and keeping the elastic from getting twisted.
When you are out the other end and it looks roughly the right size, cut leaving a couple of inches of excess just in case and hold with pin.

Slip your arm in to see if it fits.

Once you are sure of the size of the elasticated cuff, stitch forwards and back on the elastic then cut off excess elastic.

Even out the gathering and make sure the elastic stays flat. Staystitch a little bit in the seam on the opposite side, to make sure your elastic does not become twisted.

And that's it!

You can do contrast colour or fabric sleeves.

You can first decorate the sleeves with lace or braiding before putting together.

Or you can wear them under sleeveless tops and dresses to give a whole new look.

I'll show you many examples of these throughout this Blog as I love 'Puffed Sleeves'.