How To Wear Puffed Sleeves - Wrapped up with a Bow!

 I've waxed lyrical about puffed sleeved in the past, so there's no need for me to do so again in this blog post.

Suffice to say, my inner Anne Shirley will never not get a thrill from puffed sleeves. Leg-o-mutton, bishop, poet, or gigot - I'll take them all!

However, puffed sleeves do have one slight down side this time of year. They can be hard to fit under wraps. Have you ever tried showing a puffed sleeve inside a non-puffed sweater sleeve? That can be uncomfortable! I've made myself a nice heavy coat with full sleeves perfect for housing my puffed arm covers on the coldest of days, but what about those days that don't require a full coat? What about the days where only a light extra layer is needed (or those days it's so cold you want an extra layer to wear around the house)? Suzanne Winter, of Winter Wear Designs, has devised a solution for this problem!

It's a sleeved wrap scarf thingy - and it's fabulous!!!

It's like a socially acceptable wearable blanket, with dramatic sleeve-ish things. Can it get any better than that?

I don't actually know what to call this thing - but I'm thrilled with it!

So what's the story with this thing? Every December, Winter Wear Designs hosts a 12 days of Christmas event, and releases a couple of new free patterns! This year, one such free pattern is the "All Wrapped Up" collection, including patterns and instructions for two different styles of scarfs with pockets and this sleeved wrap. The coupon code to get the pattern for free is available in the Winter Wear Designs Fun Facebook Group - Just look under the "announcements" tab! 

A stable knit fabric is recommended for the main body of the wrap, but honestly? It really doesn't need any stretch so you could get away with using a flannel if you wanted.

For mine I chose to use some sort of a strange blend of a fabric. This fabric has a touch of stretch, but not much. It seems to have a knit base with soft thick threads woven through it. I acquired it from a church basement a couple of years back, and have no clue what enticed me to bring it home. That said, I'm glad I did because it was perfect for this project! Soft and snuggly, if a bit weird and unidentifiable.

The part of this wrap that really needs stretch is the elbow-high cuffs. I chose to use some sort of jersey knit with spandex in it for mine. (I bought this knit from Joann's way to long ago to have any recollection of what exactly the fiber content is.)

I really like the aesthetic of the long cuffs, but they don't make this wrap entirely practical for all manner of puffed sleeve shirts. For wear over shirts with lots of volume in the lower sleeve, I think it would work to shorten the cuffs a bit, and add the same amount of length removed from the cuffs to the main body of the wrap. I'll have to try it with the next wrap I make! Meanwhile, this wrap is perfect to wear with short, or elbow length, puffed sleeves (such as the poet sleeves included with the Neck Tie Top!), or, one of my personal favorites - leg-o-mutton sleeves!

Yes, it can double as a scarf too!

Coincidentally, WWD just came out with a pattern  featuring leg-o-mutton (also called mutton chop) sleeves! I made it up for myself using the same jersey I used for the cuffs of my wrap!

These aren't the most puffed leg-o-mutton sleeves I've encountered, but they still thrill me! 1890's inspired sleeves in a modern pattern! How could I not be excited here!

The top these sleeves are attached to is the Radiant Rouched - so named because of the fantastic diagonal rouching across the front! 

This pattern come with both the leg-o-mutton sleeves and a plain sleeve option. Along with that, it has two different neckline options - very high neck or the lower asymmetrical neckline. I don't like wearing things with high necklines, and asymmetry in clothing often appeals to me, so I went with the lower option of course! 

And the neckline still felt to high to me. After getting pictures, then wearing the shirt for a day and constantly pulling the neckline down, I fixed it!

I took a scrap of fabric, wrapped it around the rouching on the high side of the neckline, pulled the rouching down a couple of inches and stitched this strip of fabric in place to the body of the shirt.

As a finishing touch, I added a bow made from another fabric scrap.

I tried the top back on and suddenly it went from "meh" to "I love it!!"

It's the little things that make or break a garment - and this is why I love sewing my own clothes! I can adjust all the little thing, and sometimes the big things, until they suit me perfectly!

All tied up with a bow!

Thanks Suzanne for inviting me to try out and blog about some of your newest patterns! They're both winners in my book!

Check out the Winter Wear Designs Fun Facebook Group for all sorts of 12 Days of Christmas gifts and deals!