Frankie Day 2

My ten-year-old grandson spent part of today with me. He had to miss school for a cold. He asked me, "Grandma, what do you DO all day?" I told him I read, I sew, I do laundry, run errands and cook sometimes. Mostly I sew. He said, "But don't you get bored with that?" No, I said, I love it. "But why?" Well, it's like when you get a new Lego kit. You cannot wait to work through the instructions and make it. That's the way it is with me and a new pattern. He rolled his eyes and smiled.

After he went home I had a few hours to sew and made progress on the Frankie shirt from the Sewing Workshop. Because it is made from silk charmeuse, I'm taking it nice and slow. Here is today's result:

That is correct. I made two sleeves. And I had a blast, Lego-boy!

Beyond the challenge of the fabric, these are somewhat intricate sleeves. It is a two-piece sleeve (hooray!) with an uneven vent. The vent mirrors the design of the overlapping seams on the body of the garment. So pretty.

Constructing the sleeves required more pressing than sewing. I made good use of my TSW pressing templates. I first learned about pressing templates in a class I took with Linda Lee years and years ago. It was a class at the Atlanta Expo. I think that the templates were actually provided as part of the class registration. Imagine that!?

It was again one of those cases where I could not visualize the construction ahead of time. So I followed each step carefully with fabric in hand. By reading and re-reading the instructions, and lock-stepping through them, the vents came together like magic.

I did have to unsew a few things but the silk recovered nicely. There is top-stitching at the top of the sleeve vent that holds the vent together. It is easy to get extra stuff caught under the presser foot when sewing up inside a finished sleeve:

Next up - setting the sleeves. I have not decided how to finish those raw edges. French seams are sometimes dicey in a set-in sleeve, but I don't want flat felled seams either. I may try some hand-sewing after inserting the sleeve. I'll let that perk overnight.

What a fun pattern - have you bought it yet?!?  I think that this is interesting and lovely design.