I am making more versions of a top from the Simplicity 3809 pattern to get ready for this year’s faire season, and I am excited to share some additional instructions that I needed to figure out the pattern. I hope you find this helpful too! The sewing itself is not difficult, but figuring out the pattern layout was confusing for me. This post is going to focus on the View B blouse (short sleeve on the right below).
I had a few issues getting started with the short-sleeved blouse in this pattern, so I thought I’d write out the details that helped me in case anyone else was having trouble. There are lots of reviews and tutorials that mostly focus on making the bodices included in this pattern, but there was not much to be found on the blouses. The sleeves for View A are really straightforward but View B was not as simple as just a short sleeve version of that.
Supplies I Use
- Simplicity #3809 Rennaissance Costume Collection Pattern
- Rotary cutter
- 1/4″ elastic (make sure the color blends well with your fabric color choice if you’re working with sheer fabric)
- Fabric of your choice per pattern recommendations
- Sewing clips, especially if you’re using a slippery or delicate fabric
Identifying Pattern Parts
To begin, I wasn’t even sure which part of the sleeve B piece was what. Fortunately, I had help from the friendly folks in the Sewing for Renaissance Festivals group. They are a very kind group with lots of faire garb and sewing experience that they are willing to share, and I highly recommend joining. These graphics were exactly what I needed because I had the labels for each side completely messed up (you can see my initial guesses in the red writing – don’t follow those labels, just the colored lines!):
- Purple is the seam under your arm/along your inside upper arm
- Orange is the bottom edge (where the sleeve will hit near your elbow – this is the edge where your lace, bias tape, and elastic will go)
- Green is the underarm section
- Blue is the top edge that will also contain elastic and fit snug around the top of your arm
There isn’t a full armhole because the shirt is off the shoulder and there is gathering along the top of the shirt. The shape gives more volume at the back than at the front.
Matching Notches
This next set of images should help show which notches should be matched to sew up the side of the sleeve (I poorly edited out my incorrect red text in the images below – just follow the green and yellow color coding below):
More Identification
This next portion shows marked in yellow which part of the sleeve becomes part of the neck/off the shoulder elasticized part of the top. I really wish all patterns came color-coded like this! Sometimes just matching notches doesn’t give a great indication of where everything should go, especially when there are several pairs of notches.
Sewing the Bias Tape and Elastic
The first method in this video below helped me understand how to sew on the bias tape. I had to pull out my first attempt because the way I tried initially did not allow the lace on the edge of the sleeve to lay flat, but this method made it look perfect.
A finished product!
I’ve used this pattern a number of times now, and this cute top was worn with a fluffy skirt with layers of ruffles for a spooky tea party. I just did a tiny rolled hem across the bottom with my serger. It was worn during peak summer heat, so the black part is very lightweight cotton with chiffon sleeves.
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