Those Crazy Haslam Sleeves

Now for the hard part - the sleeves.  This is where I had the most questions.  The armscye gave me a bit of trouble, but that was an easy fix.  

My most pressing issue was the fact that the only image of the garment is not entirely clear on how those sleeves are put together.  There is the illustration and the line drawing of the back view.  Now, is the gathered portion a part of the lower hemmed edge, or is it inserted into a seam and completely drawn up?  I couldn't come up with a definitive answer, so I just went with what felt right.

For most of the dress, I cut my pieces using a 5/8" seam allowance.  However, for the sleeve, I gave myself a little extra room to play with where I could.  I also needed to contend with narrow seam allowances in a fabric that likes to fray.  For the almost dart like parts, I used this technique with the help of a couple of squares of silk organza.  I can't tell you how often this comes in handy, even in places you might not expect.

Once that corner was reinforced and clipped, the center portion of the sleeve was gathered up to fit the legs of the matching seamline.

That gives a lovely fullness at the lower sleeve.  I decided to draw up the fullness completely, and not incorporate any of the gathering into the actual hem.

That gives a very puffy look to the outside portion of the sleeve.

The insides, of course, are not as pretty.

The hem allowance would cover and protect a portion of the raw edges, but not the whole thing. 

My solution was to hand stitch a small rectangle with finished edges to the top of the raw edges.

And, of course, the other seams were finished with rayon seam binding.

And then for the most exciting part . . . seeing what they look like on the actual dress!

So far, I like it!