Is that a coat? No, but check out those sleeve caps! (My November Project)

 As I was getting ready to go out wine tasting wearing my November project of the month and the newly saved McCall's 5847 denim shirtdress, my husband asked me: "Is that a coat?".  I was standing in our bedroom, no where near the front door and said:  "Do you really think I'm wearing a coat right now?"  Geesh.  That shows what he knows  :) 

 

So I was able to save my shirtdress.  I took of several inches off of the front princess seams as well as the side seams to undo my unnecessary FBA.  I also needed to raise up the bust point (the first time I have ever needed to do that), which I did by raising up the front of the dress at the shoulder seams.  Guess what happens when you raise up the front of a dress like that?  The size and shape of your armhole gets seriously changed (and smaller).  So when I went to attach the sleeves, the armscye (sleeve part) was a whopping and shocking 5" longer than the armhole.  How do you think that sleeve would look?  Like total crap, that's how.  (Thankfully, I had plenty of denim leftover to recut new full length sleeves.)  I found this very helpful tutorial about redrafting a sleeve to remove the sleeve cap ease.  The front of my armhole was at least 1" shorter than the back, so not only did I need to remove all of that ease, but I needed to move the top of the sleeve head toward the front.  Redrafting the sleeve was really no big deal and I loved how easy it was to set in the sleeve when there was no ease.  I think I may now be a convert to Fashion Incubator's belief that "Sleeve Cap Ease is Bogus".  I mean seriously, the re-drafted sleeves went in so smoothly and beautifully.  I may redraft my sleeves more often. 

Look at the difference between the before and after sleeve pattern...amazing!  And here it is in real life:

The top of that sleeve cap is so smooth!  If only I would stand up straight, that wrinkle on the back of the arm could go away too.

So my rookie mistake turned into a save.  Woo hoo!