How to Make Sleeves for a Wedding Dress

You can add sleeves to any wedding dress design.

Despite the allure of big-name designers and the ease of participating in the commercial wedding industry, the tradition of handmade wedding dresses has come back into style. In addition to the lower cost of a self-made dress, creating your own wedding dress allows you to have complete control over every aspect of the style of the dress. You can even piece together different dress designs to incorporate only the elements you like. One part of the dress that is often a source of contention in dress shopping is the sleeve, which you can also change to suit your tastes.

Things You'll Need

• Template sleeve
• Paper
• Pencil
• Dress bodice
• Scissors
• Dress material
• Lining material
• Pins
• Thread
• Home sewing machine
• Iron
• Ironing board

Instructions

1. Find a sleeve style that you like on another article of clothing, or on a dress pattern. You can choose a style that is close to the style you want and alter it at a later step.

2. Lay the pattern or the garment sleeve onto a piece of paper. If you are using an existing sleeve, make sure that the sleeve is folded at the side seam. Trace around the sleeve, including the armhole edge.

3. Change the style of the drawn sleeve to suit your tastes. You can change the sleeve length, width and general shape. If working with a sleeve pattern, fold the sleeve drawing in half along the length so that you will have symmetrical alterations.

4. Match the armhole edge of your sleeve drawing with the armhole edge of your bodice. Make sure that the sleeve will fit the bodice. Make any necessary adjustments.

5. Make sure that the sleeve drawing incorporates seam allowances of at least one-half inch on all edges. An existing pattern would have already been designed for seam allowances, but you may need to add them if you traced a garment sleeve.

6. Cut the sleeve drawing from the paper. Pin the sleeve pattern to a double layer of the dress material, matching the folded edge of the material with the top edge of the sleeve pattern.

7. Cut the sleeve from the material. Repeat to make another sleeve. If you are lining the sleeves, also cut two sleeves from your lining material.

8. Fold each sleeve piece together along the length, with the right sides of the fabric touching. Pin the side edges together, then sew them one-half inch away from the edges. Iron the seam allowances open.

9. Slide the lining pieces over the outer pieces, if you are creating a lining. Pin the lining to the outer fabric at the sleeve hems. Sew the sleeve hems together one-half inch away from the edges, then turn the sleeves right side out. If you are not creating a lining, simply fold the raw hem edges to the inside of the sleeves and sew them in place.

10. Fit the sleeves into the armholes of the dress bodice. Pin the armhole edges together, then sew one-half inch away. Iron open and finish the seam allowances as desired. If you have lined the sleeves, do this on the outer fabric only, then fold the raw edges of the lining to the inside and hand stitch the lining armholes together.

References

• "The Everything Sewing Book;" Sandra Detrixhe; 2004.
• "Sewing for Dummies;" Jan Saunders Maresh; 2010.

Resources

• A Practical Wedding: How to Make a Wedding Dress