The Anna Blouse Sew Along ~ Pattern Alteration ~ Increasing the Bicep

Today I am going to share a tutorial for altering your Anna Blouse Pattern to have a larger bicep / upper arm.

This is called a "Slash and Spread" method to add more volume to this area.  

If you want a flutter sleeve this is how you would add that detail to your Anna.

1) Trace the Short Sleeve pattern on a new sheet of paper.
Draw a line from the center notch to the hem parallel with the grain line.  This line basically cuts the sleeve in half.  Cut out the sleeve.

2) Cut on the line from the hem about 5/8" away from the top edge.  Open the pattern the amount you wish to increase the bicep.  In this example, I am increasing the bicep by 1".

3)  Side a piece of paper under the area you spread and tape in place.

4) Redraw the grain line from the top notch to the center of the area you spread the pattern.  On this example the grain line is 1/2" from the cut edge.

5)  Redraw the curve on the top edge of the sleeve with your French Curve.

6) Draw the bottom hem with you French Curve.

Join me on Thursday and we will Cut Out and mark you Anna Blouse in your Final Fabric!