Engageants.

Next year I plan to be a housemaid for the Victorian events at Kentwell Hall. When I found a bit of time between writing essays, I managed to make a start on my first bit of clothing - engageants - these are cotton half sleeves that cover the fore-arm and protect the dress sleeves and so one doesn't have to roll their sleeves up and look like a scrubber (of pots and pans).

I started with 2 x 14" square (for the sleeve) and 2 x 4"x9.25" (for the cuff) of white cotton. I wanted my sleeves to be tight around the top so they stay up - the extant examples I've seen are quite wide so you might want to make your measurements bigger than mine.

Going by the extant examples, I used really small hems and seam - I allowed for 1/2". I sewed the sleeve seam first and neatend it and then hemmed the top. After this I did 2 rows of gathers around the cuff (as the sleeve is tighter compared the extant examples, there wont be many gathers in comparison) and knotted the thread when I got the desired size - 8.25", the measurement around the widest part of my hand so I can put the sleeve on. I then sewed on the cuff which was made up like bias binding.