A quick puffed sleeve fix – how to replace sleeves

I was lucky enough to thrift a fabulous velvet & wool dress in my Scottish clan tartan when I lived in London & then it sat packed away in 2 different countries until fate had me inherit a sewing machine and teach myself how to use it thus allowing me to begin my upcycling journey & finally refashion the dress into something I’d actually wear:

Here’s my fast fix for those awkward shoulder lumps + the solution to a silly refashionista mistake that I make more often than I like to admit:

A quick puffed sleeve fix – how to replace sleeves

flip the dress inside out & carefully remove the sleeves

mark that extra puff of fabric to be removed using the armhole as a guide

stitch the new sleeve size following the line of the mark & trim off the excess fabric

pop your new sleeve into the armhole with right sides facing, stitch together & repeat the process with the other sleeve and your de-puffing will be complete!

I totally spaced out & sewed the wrong sides together, then completely destroyed the sleeve when I angrily tore picked it apart and ended up chucking the whole fraying-wool-mess-of-a-dress back into my stash until the solution to the ruined sleeves snuck up on me…

as a mid-calf length velvet skirt from the 70’s that desperately needed a shorten!

Side note: I freaking love vintage clothing labels!

I shortened the skirt & used the chopped length + my very oldie but goodie Splendid Sleeves tutorial:

and my fancy new velvet sleeves were complete!

I now have a pair of fabulous sleeves – that match perfectly with the velvet neckline detail!

 My awesome e-courses are right over here!

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5 Comments

  1. Mea says:

    I soooooooo want that fabric. Where did you find it?!?

    1. Mea says:

      I meant the sleeve fabric. I’ve been looking everywhere to find it!

      1. The fabric I used for the sleeves in the video was a fab vintage score from a thrift shop in Berlin and the fabric for the dress sleeves was chopped from a vintage velvet skirt – unfortunately you won’t be able to find it but your local thrift & charity shops will have lots of unique fabric in the textile area, vintage bedsheets, tablecloths and linens are fantastic for sleeves! 🙂

  2. I’m just shortening a mid calf length black velvet skirt infront of me! Amusing 🙂
    I think the black sleeves take i from tea dress to pinafore, much smarter.

    1. Hahaha..the refashionista-mind-meld at work once again! 😀 IMO Velvet either needs to be long & luxurious or short & quirky – mid-calf length is just ugh!

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