Home DIY Fashion Part 3 McCalls Patterns M6959 Sew-Along: Adding Sleeves
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Part 3 McCalls Patterns M6959 Sew-Along: Adding Sleeves

McCalls Patterns M6959 Wrap Dress - Adding the sleeves is a little bit tricky, but basting them in place makes it a lot easier.

We are sewing McCalls Patterns M6959 Dress A in this Sew-along. In Part 3, let’s add the sleeves to the bodice.

Making the Sleeves

Before attaching the bias tape, you need to press it down lengthways. Make sure you press it so it’s slightly shorter on one side and make this shorter side face the right side of the sleeves. This way, your machine stitches will catch the longer half of the bias tape on the wrong side of the sleeves.

McCalls Patterns M6959 Wrap Dress - Adding the sleeves is a little bit tricky, but basting them in place makes it a lot easier.

I used my trusty Wonder Clips to keep the bias tape in place – it means I don’t need to do any basting stitches, so it saves me lots of time!

I love my Wonder Clips!

McCalls Patterns M6959 Wrap Dress - Adding the sleeves is a little bit tricky, but basting them in place makes it a lot easier.

The Tricky Part – Attaching Sleeves

Stitching anything that’s on a curve is always a bit tricky, but it took me 3 or 4 tries to get these sleeves to fit correctly! Basting the sleeves on your bodice is definitely a must before you go and machine stitch it all in place. The first few times I basted the sleeves, I tried it on to find them too tight on my arms. One reader, Amanda has posted her completed dress on the Sew in Love Facebook page, and also commented on having difficulty with the sleeves. I’d be interested to know how you guys found this step?

McCalls Patterns M6959 Wrap Dress - Adding the sleeves is a little bit tricky, but basting them in place makes it a lot easier.

Once I wrangled the sleeves into place, I went over the seams with my serger.

McCalls Patterns M6959 Wrap Dress - Adding the sleeves is a little bit tricky, but basting them in place makes it a lot easier.

Adjustments to the Pattern

I didn’t make any changes to the pattern, well not anything intentional anyway! I think my sleeves may have been attached slightly looser than what the sewing pattern intended, because it was far too tight on me if I followed the pattern guidelines.

Up Next…

Part 4 will be the final blog post in this sew-along series. We’ll be dealing with lots and lots of bias tape as we finish off the dress. Part 3 is relatively short so I’ll be posting Part 4 on Friday. See you then!

How did you go with attaching the sleeves to your McCalls Patterns M6959 wrap dress?

 

Rin is the founder of Sew in Love, where she helps busy women slow down and rediscover their creativity. She loves food from her Japanese heritage, coffee and bushwalking with her Aussie husband and two girls. More about Rin.

4 comments

Alice July 24, 2016 at 3:59 am

how do we enlarge an upper sleeve? Thank you

Rin July 28, 2016 at 10:27 am

Hi Alice – the easiest way to make the sleeve wider is to make the seam allowance smaller. The other way is to draft a sleeve pattern with a much wider opening.

Cherie November 24, 2017 at 11:37 pm

Can I ask what type of Serger do you use?

Rin November 27, 2017 at 8:54 am

I have a Janome serger. It’s a really old one I bought off my mother in law 🙂

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