Tutorial: How to reduce volume in the puff sleeves of the Sagebrush top sewing pattern by Friday Pattern Company

The Sagebrush top pattern by Friday Pattern Company is one of my favourite woven top sewing patterns.  It features really cute details including voluminous puff sleeves, a ruffle at the front and a bias bound neckline finished with a cute tie at the back.  Designed to fit loosely, it looks great tucked into jeans and is perfect for transforming a casual everyday outfit into something a little bit special. 

It is also a really size inclusive pattern. The pattern is available from size XS (bust 32-33 waist 24-35 hips 34-35) to size 7X (bust 59-60 waist 52-53 hips 62-63).

I have made two versions of the Sagebrush top and for both my versions I have made the same adjustment: to take some of the volume out of the puff sleeves.  Although I do love a statement sleeve, I have a petite frame and quite square shoulders.  Because of this I thought the full volume of the Sagebrush sleeves might end up overwhelming me. 

In this blog post, I will show you the quick and easy method I used to reduce the volume of the Sagebrush top’s sleeves.  I hope you will find it helpful. Please note that this is a quick and dirty adjustment, there may be better and more correct ways of reducing the volume of the sleeves but I have found that this basic method has worked for me. This method was inspired by Lisa of SewLisaLife who helped me to figure out how to make this adjustment!

Quick and easy method to reduce the volume in the puff sleeves

• Trace out the sleeve pattern piece in your size.  I always trace when I am planning to make adjustments to the pattern piece, so that I have the original pattern piece intact in case I wish to revisit it. 

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• Fold the sleeve pattern piece in half down the middle. Draw a line 1 inch in from the centre fold (see my line in pink).  Turn the pattern piece over and draw a line 1 inch in from the centre fold on the other side. Note: I chose to reduce the total volume by 2 inches overall but of course you can adjust by a different amount if you prefer.

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• Open out the pattern piece and cut along one of the lines you have drawn.

• Slide the half of the pattern piece with the cut line over the top of the other half of the pattern piece until the two lines meet.  Tape or glue the two halves together along this line.

• Now round out the top of the newly narrowed sleeve pattern piece to give a gentle curve.

• Lay the adjusted pattern piece over the original sleeve pattern piece and make sure the pattern piece is sitting an equal distance in from each vertical edge of the original pattern piece.  Then mark on the shoulder notch using the original pattern piece for placement.

• Use this adjusted pattern piece to make a reduced volume puff sleeve! 

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I hope you find this mini tutorial useful and that you enjoy sewing your Sagebrush top!