Made a hand sewn tunic with no pattern using a YouTube tutorial (I’ll post the link below when I track it down).
Unfortunately the armscyes were too small. I decided to make a gusset that extended down the full length of the sleeve. I may actually do this purposefully for future projects, because I like the comfort and the finish of the double seam.
Another thing I did for this project, which was a bit masochistic, was after thread pulling I used the pulled threads to sew the whole thing together. That’s why the thread colour matching is downright perfect.
Here is the link for the YouTube tutorial I used for the sizing and basic shape of the tunic.
I think my sleeves and armscyes were too small because I went with an ungathered sleeve.
Thank you for the link! That looks really interesting and I’ll have to check it out.
Btw your patience to use the thread from the fabric to sew the tunic… Amazing!!!
I love that you reused the thread. I also subject myself to the pain that is delicately unpicking a garment to salvage those little scraps.
I’ve wanted to try adding an underarm gusset to my bodices as I think they would help with arm mobility since my current bodice and sleeve blocks fit weirdly at the hinge of my shoulder.
By the way, have you seen the community Sewing, Repairing and Reducing Waste?
I haven’t, thanks for the link!
Yes the gusset works really well for movement. If you’re making use of every scrap it’s also good for longer thinner pieces that might not have another use. I think it’d look pretty cool in a contrasting colour too. (And if I had to make a garment bigger I might run a strip right from the end of the sleeve to the hem)
I have a family member who runs sewing workshops and she keeps all the scraps (serger threads, fabric bits too tiny to sew with) for filling living room poufs. It works really well for a dense and compact stuffing and apparently they’re nice to sit on.
She encourages students to make the pouf first then add sewing scraps to it as they work on other projects.
Wow. Admirably insane to re-use the threads. I’ve never really liked the way diamond gussets look; this is a really beautiful solution.
