Gathered sleeves

I've been playing with gathered sleeves lately.  Just a bit of puff on the shoulder—not the exaggerated puff I seem to be seeing everywhere!

My girlies love a bit of frill or puff at their shoulders, but I’m calling these gathered sleeves because while they have a bit of puff shape to them I’ve been told by the five year old that they are definitely not puffy. :)

Using Simplicity 9362 as a base, I traced the sleeve onto my handy dandy pattern paper (the giant roll of freezer paper I picked up at Costco six years ago is still being used for this purpose!)

I folder the traced sleeve down the middle and “added” a shadow outline on the top of the sleeve and about  three inches down the arm.  The new outline is half an inch wider at the armpit and a quarter inch taller at the shoulder.

I ran a basting stitch along the shoulder portion of the sleeve—make sure you leave “tails” of sting on both ends!  Hold one end of the sting and pull on the other, gathering the fabric.

Here’s what it looked like on my mannequin—not too much puff.

Just enough to be a perfect addition to a sleeveless costume—or, as my girlies have decided, an everyday top perfect for our PNW winters!