Foresleeves

And so onto the next pair of sleeves! The pattern for the foresleeves also came from The Tudor Tailor. For the sleeves, I used some pink and cream shot silk that I had been given as a gift at an Easter event last year, and some white cotton.

I sewed around all the edges of the sleeves, attaching the silk to the cotton (my pattern only had allowance for very small seams) apart from the smallest edge, which was left open to turn the sleeves the right way round and were then hand sewn together.

I then sewed the two long edges of the sleeves together, using ladder stitch, at 3 inch intervals starting from the wrist and ending at the back. The stitching was about 1/2 inch long. I then sewed on 4 pearls, where I had sewn the sleeves together, in a diamond shape for decoration.

After this I then made the 'puffy' bits that poke through the gaps. I used a long strip of white cotton measuring 20" by 6.2" (such and odd measurement as that just happened to be the width of the fabric) and hemmed it with a very small hem. I then quarted the strip and pleated along the line of the quarters. It was then pinned and sewn to the lining inside on the same place where the pearl were sewn on. I also added a couple of stitches either side of the gaps to hold the cotton in place and so that it couldn't be pulled all the way through.

The sleeves then have ribbon sewn on which will later tie to a loop of ribbon inside the turnback sleeves. As I didn't have time, I sewed a tab on instead so that the sleeves may be pinned.