PRIMA Magazine - May 2017, Tops with Gathered/Fluted Sleeves

There's until the end of tonight to order the May 2017 PRIMA Magazine pattern by phone. For more info. please see Prima's own webpage here.

For May 2017, Prima Magazine are offering patterns for women's tops in 4-styles: ¾ sleeves with fluted cuffs, long-sleeved with deep gathered frill, double-layered short fluted sleeves, and a long sleeve with a short fluted oversleeve.. As usual the Women's patterns come in Sizes 10 - 20 (UK), the Girl's in 2 - 10 (UK).

See my old post here on tips for ordering their patterns: PRIMA Magazine: How to Order Their Sewing Patterns.

For my some of my thoughts on PRIMA Magazine's sewing patterns - and how I'd personally like to see them change to make things better and easier for sewing-fans - please see this link here Claire's Tuppence Worth... .

UPDATE: Sleeve Pattern for Sorbetto Top

Back in August 2011, I digitised the sleeve pattern that  Mena of 'The Sew Weekly' created to go with the FREE Sorbetto Tank Top pattern by Colette Patterns.

I've just updated my old blog post to add-in what I believe to be the approximate pattern-size that the sleeve should fit. (NB: Mena didn't state what size the sleeve pattern is she originally drafted.) 

Image Source: 7 days of Sorbetto - The Sew Weekly, Coral Tank Top and Logo - Colette Patterns

I've done a bit of measuring of the stitching-lines, and I reckon that the sleeve-pattern is most likely for the Size 6 on the pattern, with approximately ³/4" (20mm/2cm) of sleeve-cap ease. You might even be able to squeeze this sleeve onto the Size 8 armhole - without any easing at all. Remember though... on the sleeve-pattern the stitching line on the sleeve cap has been printed to show  ⁵/₈" (15mm/1.5cm) seam allowance... BUT that the armhole on the bodice pattern pieces has a ¼" (6mm/0.6cm) seam allowance folks!!!

I've turned the comments off on this blog-post, so if you'd like to comment about the sleeve-pattern please go here to the original-post and leave your comments there instead please guys... :)

Sleeve Pattern for the Sorbetto Top

STOP PRESS!!! 00:17, 02-Aug-2011: The image and PDF pattern sizes have been resolved, and the links and instructions below are now correct!

All over the sewing blog-i-verse the fab free pattern by Colette Patterns is being made up into a myriad of different iterations of the Sorbetto Tank Top. (I've made one too - to be posted about this week.)

The lovely Mena of 'The Sew Weekly' is even doing a whole week of Sorbettos!

Now, I was already thinking about diving in and drafting a sleeve pattern myself to go with this super little sleeveless top, however Mena has already gotten there first (yay - less work for moi ;) !). She's produced the pattern as x2 GIF image files. But, I decided it'd be easier for me to print and work with if I imported these into CorelDRAW. So, I did this and from here I added a few bits 'n' bobs of my own - and it's now been turned into a downloadable PDF file for you to enjoy.

Image Source: 7 days of Sorbetto - The Sew Weekly, Coral Tank Top and Logo - Colette Patterns

Bits that I've added to Mena's own sleeve pattern are:

• a seam allowance - a ⁵/₈" (1.5cm) stitching line is now shown,
• marked the front and back of the sleeve (to make insertion easier),
• the shoulder-seam alignment - changed the dot for a notch-line,
• given a 10cm/4 inch test square (page 1 of the PDF file), and
• given a layout for assembling the pattern sheet pieces.

I've saved the file in 2 versions, available from my Google documents for download (the pattern-size of the sleeve is NOT stated on the PDF file, please see notes further below about the pattern size):
    • A4 format (paper size: 210 x 297mm).
    • US Letter format (paper size: 8½ by 11 inches).

To download the PDF files, simply click on the links above - then on the new webpage select the 'Download' button in the centre of the screen.

The page 1 of the PDF file is a diagram of the layout for assembling the paper sheets together to form the sleeve pattern (2-sheets, i.e. pages 2+3).

How to assemble the PDF Sleeve Pattern:

(1) Print out the sheet with the Test Square (page 1 of the file).

      Select 'Page Scaling' to 'None' (or to 100% - dependant upon your PDF reading software).

      Check that the square is the correct size - 10 x 10cm (4 x 4 inches).

(2) Once you are happy with your printer settings, print out the rest of the PDF file.

      Page 1 = Layout diagram, Pages 2 + 3 = Sleeve Pattern.

(3) Layout the pages in front of you - as per the layout diagram.

(4) Trim off the right-hand side margin from page 2.

(5) Tape together the 2-sheets: align the solid black triangles edge-to-edge, i.e. 1A with 1A.

      The triangles are found along the edge of the margins (the grey boxes outlining each
      sheet). Basically on a sheet where you've trimmed back an edge to it's margin (grey-line)
      you then overlap that onto the next sheet in the layout.

TIP: This sleeve pattern only has 2-sheets to tape together. But, for bigger pattern pieces, it's often easiest to tape together whole rows first, and to then tape each row to one another afterwards. This makes the process more logical and easier to handle (very useful for when you come across much larger and more complicated patterns to assemble - imagine a maxi dress!!)

Please Note:

The Sorbetto top in it's original form and style is meant to be sleeveless (with the armhole intended to be finished with bias-binding), therefore as per Colette Patterns' instructions the armhole on the bodice pattern pieces has a ¼" (6mm/0.6cm) seam allowance.

However, I have shown a ⁵/₈" (15mm/1.5cm) seam allowance (stitching lines) all the way around on the sleeve pattern. Therefore, you may/may not wish to adjust the bodice armhole to increase the seam allowance and make life easier when you align and pin together the fabric pieces for stitching.

Mena does not state what size the sleeve pattern is she has drafted. Though I think it should be easy to tweak! (I'll let you know how I get on when I make the sleeves myself - very soon LOL!).

EDIT (30th Oct 2013): I've done a bit of measuring of the stitching-lines, and I reckon that the sleeve-pattern is most likely for the Size 6 on the pattern, with approximately ³/₄" (20mm/2cm) of sleeve-cap ease. You might even be able to squeeze this sleeve onto a Size 8 armhole - without any easing at all. Remember on the sleeve-pattern the stitching line on the sleeve cap has been printed to show  ⁵/₈" (15mm/1.5cm) seam allowance... BUT that the armhole on the bodice pattern pieces has a ¼" (6mm/0.6cm) seam allowance folks!!!

Enjoy :) !

P.S. Out of common decency and courtesy I have of course emailed Colette Patterns and also The Sew Weekly to let them know I've made this PDF file of Mena's sleeve pattern.