Briar Rose: The Shirt, Part 3
In this post, I will talk about the construction and patterning of the shirt sleeves and collar for my Briar Rose cosplay. As of this particular cosplay, I had never before constructed or patterned sleeves or a collar, so this was definitely a learning experience for me. I relied heavily on tutorials, and I will try to share some of the resources I used.
Overall, I ended up happy that I learned something new but mostly unhappy with the results. My final sleeves were too short, too tight, and too poofy at the shoulder, and my final collar did not lie as flat as I wanted. Nonetheless, I really did learn something of value, and I will likely use the same resources in my next attempt at Briar Rose.
I used this tutorial from the Threads website for how to create a custom sleeve pattern/sloper: https://www.threadsmagazine.com/2008/08/19/create-a-custom-sleeve-pattern.
In drafting a sleeve pattern, it is crucial to first have the bodice pattern finalized so that you can fit the sleeve exactly to the size of the armhole. In my case, armhole depth on the sleeve was the most difficult thing to figure out, and I don’t think I really figured it out in the end. As you can somewhat see in the following picture, the sleeves on my final product are quite poofy at the top, and they aren’t really supposed to be. I also forgot to deal with the proper fit of the sleeve. I was more concerned with making the sleeve large enough to fit over my hands and around my arm than matching the look in the inspiration.
Once you have more or less successfully drafted a sleeve pattern and cut two sleeve pieces out of fabric, you may now be wondering how to attach your sleeves to your bodice. Here’s a handy tutorial you can follow to insert your sleeves: https://www.madetosew.com/how-to-insert-a-sleeve/.
The gathering isn’t the most important thing in the world. It is more important to match up the seams and markings/notches on your sleeves with those on the bodice, which you can do easily by pinning from larger portions of the sleeve to smaller and smaller sections.
Last but not least is the sleeve trim. To make the trim on the bottom of the two sleeves, I simply cut out two roughly 1″ wide strips of my shirt fabric the length of the circumference of just below my elbow plus 5/8″ seam allowance. The size was to ensure the sleeves would stay below my elbows, but I had to make sure this length was big enough to fit my hands through. In my first attempt I forgot to add the seam allowance, so the sleeves weren’t wide enough to fit my hands and I had to make them again.
The design of Briar Rose’s collar is straightforward enough, having pointy ends and being in a contrasting white color compared to the grey-ish color of her shirt, but I wasn’t initially sure what to call the style. It isn’t the type of collar you tend to see on button down shirts because it does not appear to have the level of structure, but it also isn’t a typical Peter Pan collar because its edges are not rounded. I found a useful image after searching for Peter Pan collars that indicate that the style is called an Eton collar and is indeed related to the Peter Pan collar in most aspects (bottom right diagram in the following image).
Because the back of my bodice has an opening in the back for my head to go through, the collar is split into two pieces that sit on either side of the neck, and each of the pieces is in turn composed of an upper and an under piece of fabric. To construct my collar, I followed and modified the above pattern from www.adventuresindressmaking.com. This pattern is half of one of the sides of the collar. To get the full size, simply cut it on a fold where marked. Because the pattern has the rounded edge of a Peter Pan collar, I modified it by adding a point on the front half of the pattern.
Collar making tutorials recommend using interfacing inside of the collar so that it holds its form better, but I omitted this step because I did not have the materials. My collar turned out fine, but it definitely would’ve been better if I had used interfacing. To use interfacing in a collar, simply cut a piece in the shape of your pattern. Some types of interfacing are sew-on, and some are iron-on. It’s easier in this case to work with iron-on interfacing. Cut away the seam allowance on your collar-shaped piece of interfacing and iron it to the wrong side of either the upper or under piece of your collar half.
Sew the upper and under pieces of your collar together on all sides at the seam allowance except for the section that will attach to the neckline of your bodice. Cut out notches at the sewn corners and on the curves, turn the collar right side out, and iron it again. This will help give your collar a sharper and less bulky appearance. At this point, you can attach the collar to your bodice. You may want to cut notches at the curves of the neckline seam to prevent bulk, and you may also want to reinforce the collar at the neck hole. I neglected to do so on my shirt, and my neckline kept flipping over to reveal the seam there.
This was a long one, but with that we’re done talking about the shirt! Get ready for the next several posts about the actual meat of this cosplay: the corset/bustier and the skirt.
