This is a blouse I designed and made at my internship. I wanted to see what I could do to break the limits of how big and poofy the sleeves could be, and I think it’s safe to say I broke those pretty successfully. I did have help from a professional seamstress who taught me a lot about pattern drafting, fabric cutting and garment construction, but in the end every stitch was made by me. (And the sewing machines, of course.) One problem I did run into when the garment was almost finished was that the ribbon at the wrists was too slippery to hold up the weight of the sleeves, so I had to install two channels through which I could feed some elastic. I think this was a great way to solve this problem without compromising the core design.

The fabric the sleeves are made out of is recycled from some beautiful curtains, so it was quite a heavy fabric, but I just couldn’t let it go to waste
The ribbons are also fed through a channel, creating the volume
I debated on whether I should go this dramatic with the pointed collar since the sleeves are so big, but I ended up adding it after all. It creates balance between the soft, round shapes of the sleeves and the sharp lines of the shoulder seams and the bottom hemline
Here it is with the sweater vest from the sketch which I did not create