1830's Day Dress: Sleeve Puffers

Did someone say sleeve puffers or pool floaties?

For real though, don't these look like the original kids' arm pool floaties?

I kind of love them for that reason though. So cute!

Anyway, as with any garment, you've gotta cut out some fabric. You only need an inside and an outside to make one of these puffers. The inside is a rectangle and the outside is a kind of circular shape with rectangles on the ends. You gather the outside to fit the inside piece. Leave the ends open so you can stuff it. You don't want the armpit area to be stuffed so you sew topstitching straight across about three to four inches away from the center back once it is stuffed. I topstitched one end so I could make sure that the stuffing was packed in there. I just found it easier that way.

For the stuffing, I decided to use fabric scraps. I have a bag with all the fabric scraps that can't be used to make garments. I also had some t-shirts that my workmates and I had to were at work one time and they didn't want them afterward. It was very tedious cutting up all the t-shirts and scraps. My hand got quite sore but I think that's because I was using my bad fabric scissors which aren't very comfortable to hold. I'm glad that I stuffed it with these scraps as it means that my fabric waste isn't going into landfills and it's being used for something.

Then to finish it off, you sew it up at the center back and sew on the ties. I did three ties on each. On at the top and one of each of the topstitching lines. These get tied onto the stay straps so that they don't move around in the down sleeves when you are wearing them.

This was a pretty quick make. They do a really good job of puffing out the sleeves on the gown. They are a bit awkward to put on through. I can't put them on before the gown because I can't put my arm through the armhole with them on. So I put them in the gown then put my arm through them in the sleeve and then have to try knot the ties to the stay straps. I'm not sure if there is an easier method of doing this but I get someone to help me tie them because it's just too awkward to do by myself

I love how silly these are. When I have them just lying around, I swear everyone who sees them, puts them on and pretends they are really muscly. As proof of how silly they might look when not being used as sleeve puffers, here's a photo of me wearing one as a hat. Enjoy!

I'll talk to you soon. Have a swell day!

-Maysie