Hey everyone, Holly here! The Dove blouse hack I’m going to share with you today has resulted in my new favorite top in my closet. It’s SO good! I’m going to show you how to create a sleeveless version with cute little rectangular cap sleeves. This hack was originally done by Katie of What Katie Sews, and when Meg showed it to me I was in loooooove and knew we had to share it with you all and show you how to do it yourself. So thank you Katie for the inspiration!
Ok, so let’s get started……
**** just a note: you may notice throughout this tutorial that this Dove blouse does not have bust darts. Yes, they have been removed (I have a very small bust, and tend to remove bust darts on non-fitted blouses). Just an FYI in case you are wondering!
To start, you should have every other aspect of your Dove blouse sewn by following the instructions, except the sleeves. That includes the center front seam, darts, facing, shoulder and side seams, and even the hem facing if you would like.
To make the little cap sleeves, cut two rectangular pieces of fabric 9.75″ by 3.5″.
Depending on the weight of your fabric, you may want to apply lightweight fusible interfacing to the wrong side of each rectangle to stabilize the shape of the cap sleeves.
Fold each rectangular piece in half the long way, with right sides together.
Sew along the short ends, 1/4″ from the raw edges. Clip the corners.
Turn the cap sleeves right side, making sure to get those corners nice and sharp, and press.
Mark the middle/halfway point on each cap sleeve.
Place your blouse in front of you right side out.
Place your cap sleeve long the armscye, lining up the raw edges and matching the center of the cap sleeve with the shoulder seam.
Continue pinning the entire cap sleeve to the edge of the armscye. Repeat with the other one.
So together 5/8″ from the raw edge.
Now we are going to finish the raw edge of the armhole with bias facing. I’m going to show you the way I did it here, but you can also see another method done in this post here. You can also use store bought bias tape if you would like. Whatever your preference is.
Ok, so for this method, cut two strips of fabric, on the bias, 21″ long and 2″ wide. If you can’t cut strips that long, you can piece together shorter strips, and you can also find how to do that here.
Fold the strip in half width ways along the long edge, with wrong sides together / right sides facing outwards. Press well.
Fold the bias strip in by 1/4” at one end and press.
Starting with the folded end, line up the raw edges of the folded bias strip with the raw edge of the armhole. I like to begin doing this at the bottom, right at the side seam.
Begin pinning together, easing the strip as you go.
Continue pinning all the way around…
When you reach the folded edge of the bias strip where you started, overlap it by an inch, and then cut off the remaining bias strip.
Repeat for the other side.
Sew 1/2″ from the raw edge around the entire armhole.
Trim back the seam allowance to under 1/4″.
Press the facing and seam allowance away from the blouse.
Understitch along the facing strip close to the seamline (securing the bias facing to the seam allowance only. you are not sewing on the bodice or the cap sleeve). This ensures that your facing will roll towards the inside of the garment.
Turn the facing towards the inside of the top, with the cap sleeve outwards. Press, and pin in place.
Stitch close to the other edge of the facing to enclose the raw edges.
Ta-da! That’s it! Here is what it looks like from the right side!
Looking For More Dove Posts?
Here’s the full list of Dove tutorials:
- Inspiration and Ideas
- How to sew French darts
- 4 ways to sew beautiful centre front seams
- How to sew Neckline facings
- 3 ways to sew finish the raw edges of a facing
- How to sew flared cuffs
- How to set sleeves
- How to hem flared sleeves
- How to make a Dove dress
Don’t have the Dove sewing pattern yet? Get it in store here! We absolutely love seeing what you make, so don’t forget to tag your creations with #MNdove and @megannielsenpatterns if sharing on social media.
I too have a small bust and have been trying to figure out how to remove bust darts but with no luck. Would you please post how to remove the bust darts from the Dove pattern? Also, does that hack work on all bust darts or do you need to do something different depending on the type of dart? Thanks so much for your help with this!
Hi Kate! Holly here. So I have a few different ways that I remove darts, depending on the placement and size of the dart. I’m going to try and plan to do a blog post about it hopefully in the near future, but here’s some ideas:
1. you can do a small bust adjustment until the dart is closed. There is a post here on Design Diary showing a SBA on the waist dart of Darling Ranges, but it is the same concept. This is probably the most technical and proper way to do this.
but I do have some not-so-technical ways I go about it too.
2. I believe this is what I did with this Dove blouse if I remember correctly. Similar to doing a SBA, You can draw a line from the dart point to the waist, slash, close the dart, and then just re-draw the side seam and waist by hand. Obviously not very precise since you’re eyeing it. But if you’re comfortable doing it, its an easier option. If you trace the pattern first, you can use the original to guide you for re-drawing the lines.
3. This one is best for small darts, not technical at all, but a lot faster – sometimes I’ll just fold over and close the dart right on the paper pattern, tape it shut, flatten the pattern a bit, and then lay it down on new paper and trace it flat.
Hope that helps! I’ll try to get a blog post up soon.