How To: V-Neck Blouse with Tie-Up Sleeve Detail

I got this irregular polka dot cotton from Bangkok in April and have been racking my brain to figure out some simple detail, not to have to make a completely basic top from it. And then I figured you can put belts on pants, why not put belts on sleeves.

Tutorials take a lot of time & effort to create, and I choose to make mine available for free. If you enjoy this guide, you can support me with a donation that feels right for you, here.

TOOLS:

Fabric, 1 m (I used 100% Japanese cotton)  Scissors  |  Pins  |  Thread & Sewing machine (I also finished seams with my serger but you could zig-zag)

I. Some rough measurements (I'm EU36/US4). Same front and back piece..

.. With exception of cutting the front neckline into a V shape.

II. Then cut my sleeves:

For which the measurements below. I did a pretty wide cuff (4 cm fold so for 8 cm or so from the end, your sleeve piece needs to be uniform width).

III. Then I finished my necklines and shoulder seams just like I did here (I made my own bias tape from the same fabric for the shoulder seam finishing).

IV. Attached the sleeves to the top and completed sides seams, finally making my wide fold at the ends of the sleeves to finish those.

V. Last step was to add my hoops for the sleeve ribbons. I first made one long spaghetti strap-like piece (the initial strip of fabric was 42 cm long and 2.5 cm wide). I like to use my super thick hand-sewing needle to push my thin straps right side out (more on that here). I cut the strap into 6 pieces and pushed the ends of each inside, so I had little pieces like this:

+ Made two long ribbons (piece I cut for each was 100 cm x 6 cm, to result in a 2.5cm wide ribbon). 

VI. Last was to just hand-sew the hoops onto the sleeve, 3 per sleeve - one along the bottom sleeve seam, and one into each direction from there, 1/4 around the sleeve. Then just popped my ribbon in there.

xo,

Julia