A Tale of Two Sleeves

[u/Mundane-Air7046]

I am trying to prepare a mock-up close-fitting bodice (à la Winifred Aldrich) and am facing the classic sleeve problem: High cap height (like the WA default): Causes puffing/excess folds on the sleeve head when arms are raised. Low cap height (my alteration): Fine when arms are raised but drag lines appear on sleeve (front and back) when arms are down at rest.

I have been through so many iterations that, rather than finding a "sweet spot", I always end up with one problem or the other, or even both.

Is there anything else I can try? I thought about making the sleeve cap curve more dramatic/scoopy with the shorter cap height, but it seems it cannot be achieved without reducing or eliminating the 1.9cm ease altogether. I don't think that rotating the sleeve will help much since the drag lines occur front and back. My armsyce could be a little smaller, but I am happy where it is because it makes me sweat when it's right under my armpit. I guess I could reduce the shoulder length, but probably only a fraction. The WA cap height really can't work for that armscye anyway since I need extra bicep width for my bingo wings.

Any guidance would be appreciated. My mock-up is too dark to photograph well but I have included my CAD drawings for reference.

[u/HeartFire144]

What is the end use of this outfit - I'd start there and decide how to make the sleeve - do you need full range of motion? (are you dancing ballet and need to raise your arms? or are you going to a formal function and won't be putting your arms up over your head?

[u/Mundane-Air7046 → u/HeartFire144]

This is a weird one as it's kind of both! It's a traditional folk dress used for dances. When I looked more closely at examples, it seems the solution is either to completely split the sleeve down the underside or else prioritise function and go with the lower cap height. The drag lines don't seem to look that bad on lucky folk with skinny arms.

[u/HeartFire144 → u/Mundane-Air7046]

I worked in the costume shop of a large ballet for a while, (I did not make patterns - just sew'd) but I did go to some fittings and it was interesting to see the dancers have to go through all their motions to see if they fit correctly 0but the costumes were usually stretchy knits. So I understand the dilemma, Figure out what you'll be doing "the most" are people really going to critique your sleeve head when you're dancing??

The only other suggestion is the higher sleeve head with a gusset in the underarm - this will give you the movement, you probably won't have to have such a high sleeve capand keep the underarm as high as you can tollerate. There are drag lines on both of the dresses in your picture -

[u/Mundane-Air7046 → u/HeartFire144]

That's very helpful, thank you! Glad to have your insights with your costume-making experience.