Flat Fell Seam Sleeve Cap

Last night, about 3am I was laying in bed, contemplating my ceiling and wishing that I was asleep when I had an amazing 'no sh*t Sherlock' moment. I finally realized that I don't have to put together patterns as dictated by the directions. I can color outside the lines y'all!

See, I'm working on Butterick 5030*, it's this really cute wrap dress that I'm making with a lovely teal and white floral linen. The problem is the linen is a really loose weave. I'm also going to make a slip to wear under the dress so being slightly sheer isn't a problem, but I needed to construct the wrap in such a way that it wouldn't just keep unraveling to nothingness on me. I was already Frankenstein-ing the pattern a bit, I'm using the bodice from D/E/F, but the collar from A/B/C, the belt from A/D and the sleeves from C/F. So I figured if I'm already changing everything else, why not change the construction methods too?

And here is the bodice to my newest dress. Obviously I haven't added the collar yet, and I haven't hemmed the sleeves

I decided to do a flat fell seam for the shoulder and sleeve cap. Even though it seems to be the way most commercial button-up shirts are made I hadn't tried doing a flat fell on a sleeve cap yet because the curve seemed to make is trickier. 

It's hard to even see the second line of stitching on the sleeve cap, which pleases me because I'm not into a lot of visible top-stitching. You can see if on the shoulder seem here though. 

And this is what it looks like on the inside. See all those nice finished edges? yummy! I love those.

Rather than sew the sleeve together at the underarm and the side seams of the bodice then attach the sleeve I decided to attach the sleeve immediately after sewing the shoulder seam. It's hard to tell in the picture, but that allowed me to sew the entire side seam with a nice smooth french seam. It seemed to me that it would be easier and less bulky that way, rather than having to do the flat fell seam in the round while manipulating french seams. 

I'm pleased with how the dress is turning out so far. The flat fell on the sleeve cap was far easier than I thought it would be and it's definitely how I am going to sew my sleeve caps in the future. Hurray for 3am realizations that I don't have to follow the directions step-for-step in order. 

*I am in no way associated with Butterick, although I would dearly love to work for them, I do not at the present. I've just been making a lot of their patterns lately because they fit me with little to no alterations needed, and, more importantly, they were on sale for $1.99 at Jo-Ann's recently.