In today’s Jarrah sweater post, we’ll be covering everything you need to do to finish up views B + D; how to sew the split sleeves & curved hem!
First, we will go over the split sleeve that is found in both views, and I’ll even show you a couple of different tips and options for finishes. Has anyone ever done a mitered corner before? It gives such a nice clean finish!
I’ll also cover how to finish the curved hem of View B. But don’t worry – even though I don’t show you here, the straight hem of View D is exactly the same and pretty straightforward.
Are you ready for this?! It’s a fun one!
PREP THE CURVED HEM
Ok, so if you are doing the curved hem, you may want to prep the first part of the hem before you do the sleeve and side seam. It’s technically optional but recommended. It will make it easier later on. You don’t need to prep ahead of time for the straight hem. You can just do all of that one at the end.
Lay your front sweater piece down with the wrong side facing up, and turn the curved hem to the inside by 1/2″, pressing as you go.
A fusible hemming tape like Stitch Witchery really comes in handy here! If you’ve never used it, here is what it looks like. You don’t necessarily have to use it, but I promise it will make sewing a curved hem of a sweater SO much easier. It fuses the hem in place so it’s more stable and doesn’t move around. No pins are necessary and it’ll be easier to topstitch on.
Sandwich the fusible hem tape in between the fold, and iron, following the instructions on your Stitch Witchery.
Repeat for the back sweater piece.
SPLIT SLEEVE
Turn your sweater inside out so that the front and back face each other with right sides together. Line up the edges of the side seam and sleeve edge.
Now see that little notch on the sleeve? That’s where the split opening will start.
Clip into that notch by 1/4″
Now measure down 1″ from where you just clipped into the notch, parallel to the sleeve edge. Market this 1″ line, which will be 1/2″ from the sleeve edge.
Sew down this line using a straight stitch. Again, it will be 1/2″ from the raw edge, and 1″ long.
Line up the rest of the sleeve and side seam above the notch. Pin in place, making sure to match up the sleeve seam at the underarm.
Sew in place 1/4″ from the raw edge in one continuous line, from the sleeve notch, around the underarm, all the way down to the hem. Use a zig-zag stitch or serger.
The red line above is where you sewed your 1″ mark below the notch. The blue lines are your continuous side seam stitch.
Here’s a closer look. The two lines of stitches should match up together at the notch. And you can see that the lower half of the sleeve is still open.
Press the seam allowance open below the notch. Remember, it is sewn together for the first 1″ and then open below that. The seam allowance is 1/2″ here
Also, turn under the sleeve hem by 1/2″ as well.
Now, you could just stop here and go on to topstitching. But I’m going to show you another option for finishing the corners…
MITERED CORNERS (Optional)
This creates a nice and clean finish at your corners if you’d like to try it. If you’ve never done this technique before, you may want to do a test round on scrap fabric first.
Unfold your split seam and hem and mark the fold lines.
Mark from the right side of the fabric, too.
Now fold in the corner diagonally so that the crease lines line up with each other. That’s why I like to mark them from the front, too. So that it’s easier to see them line up.
Press this diagonal fold very well. The red line above shows the new crease that this creates. Mark this crease as well (on the wrong side of the fabric).
Now fold the corner right sides together, lining up the edge.
Remember – those blue lines above are your seam creases. The red line is your diagonal crease.
With the right sides together, you will be stitching along the red diagonal crease line.
Stitch along the diagonal crease using a straight stitch, and make sure to backstitch. Cut off the excess and clip the corner.
Now turn the corner back around towards the inside of the garment. See how the corner now has its own seam? Use a point-turner or something similar to push the corner out and get the perfect point.
And then press well again.
I know this isn’t the easiest to see, but, the corner on the left side is a mitered joint, and the corner on the right is just turned under.
SLEEVE HEM
Whether you choose turned-up corners or mitered corners, we can now move on to hemming and topstitching the sleeve.
Just like with the curved hem I showed you above, you can choose to (or not to) use a fusible hem tape to stabilize and hold everything in place before topstitching. Just sandwich it in the folds and iron using the directions.
Turn the sleeve right side out.
Here is what it looks like when it’s all folded under and ready for topstitching!
From the right side, topstitch along the hem and split sleeve just under 1/2″ from the folded edge. Use a zig-zag stitch or twin needle. Do this in one continuous stitch, pivoting at the corners and around the top edge of the split.
FINISHING THE HEM
Now that that’s done, we can finish the hem! If you didn’t prep your hem early on, now is the time to do it – turn it under by 1/2″ (using stitch witchery if you would like). I went over all of this at the beginning of this post.
If you already did this step in the beginning. You can now just topstitch along the entire hemline 1/2″ from the edge. Use either a zig-zag stitch or a twin needle.
I know it’s harder to see on this fabric, so here is a close-up with some lines to show you where I topstitched. This is one continuous stitch around the entire hem.
And this also goes for the straight hem of view D. Whether you are doing a curved or straight hem – this step is the same!
And that’s it! If you made View B or D & you had a split sleeve & curved hem, your sweater is now complete! Woo Hoo!
LOOKING FOR MORE JARRAH POSTS?
- Pattern Tester Round-up
- Inspiration + Ideas
- How to Lengthen the Pattern
- Seams
- Neckband and Funnel Neckline
- Sleeves with Cuffs (A&C)
- Split Sleeves and Curved Hem (B&D) (This post!)
- Hem Band (A)
- Tie Hem (C)
We absolutely love seeing what you make, so don’t forget to tag your creations with #MNjarrah and @megannielsenpatterns when sharing on social media, and check out what everyone else is up to!
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