All posts tagged: sleeves

Ninon’s dress: sleeves!

After two toiles, and three re-pleatings/readjusting of the sleeves, Ninon’s sleeves are done. Or at least I’m happy enough with them to let them go for one wearing while I re-assess them. So typically me! I pleated the top of the sleeves with soft knife pleats.  It’s less controlled than the stiff cartridge pleats on most extent mid 17th century sleeves, but I felt it looked more like the softer pleats on my inspiration piece: The bottom of the sleeves are done with sewn-down cartridge pleats. I left a bit of the band at the bottom of the sleeve totally plain, as that seems to be what is going on in my inspiration image.   I think it will sit a bit better and collapse less when it has all the trim that is in the inspiration image. I found the sleeve ‘wing’ really irritating.  I think it is a leftover transition from the Elizabethan shoulder wings, but as a transition piece it no longer really makes sense, and is just a bit of a …