I thought as I go thru my jacket project that if I do anything different from the norm or "my way" as opposed to "other ways" I publish the details. As I was working on the second sleeve the camera was handy. I love a well molded sleeve cap and this shows part of the way I try to achieve that. On the left you see my June Tailor sleeve mitt. I LOVE this pressing tool and find it indispensable. I can squeeze it into the smallest areas and literally can press on my hand with it. You can see the sleeve is underlined with the flannel and the Acro is on the bias across the cap. I chose to attach my interfacings to the flannel to prevent possible ridge show thru. The sleeve head is gathered notch to notch. I don't know who taught me this years ago, but I always leave the half inch left and right of the shoulder seam flat, with not gathers pulled up. So the gathering is is from a half inch left and right of the shoulder seam to the notches and it pulled up. You also see my organdy press cloth.
The sleeve mitt is put into the sleeve cap and tucked up into the gathers. The press cloth is placed under the sleeve.
The press cloth is then pulled around the sleeve cap tightly.
Heavy steam is used to mold the cap while holding the press cloth tight with the other hand. Be careful you don't burn your self here. After I remove the iron I hold the cloth around the cap tightly for a minute or so till it cools down. Then I just let go and let the sleeve lay there and cool down on its own. Don't move the sleeve until its cool, the longer the better. After these steps are completed I install my sleeve into the bodice and then put in a sleeve head. I used a folded layer of more of the flannelette for the sleeve head. .........Bunny
Interesting - I always gather/ease from notch to notch, too, ignoring the dots. I find I get a better distribution of the sleeve cap that way.
ReplyDeleteOoh, I'm in the city today. I think I'll see if I can find a pressing mit.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that. I So you don't actually have your hand in the mitt in this application? read somewhere too not to gather right on the top.
ReplyDeleteYes, my hand is not in the sleeve in the mitt. The shape of the mitt does all the work. The mitt is very firm but flexible. On final pressing, when the garment is ready to wear, sometimes I will slip the mitt up into the sleeve cap while its on the dress form, and give it a final heavy steaming.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this useful tip. I would try to use it next time when installing sleeves.
ReplyDeleteI will certainly be trying this tip. Thanks for sharing it.
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