I was recently shopping online and came across this shirt by Lemaire. But at a cost of almost $500, I decided to try and make it instead of buying it. I was mostly intrigued by the sleeve and recalled that Madeleine Vionnet incorporated this style, a.k.a. the barrel cut, in many of her designs as well. In Betty Kirke’s book, Madeleine Vionnet, she notes that Vionnet was a master at manipulating various geometric shapes – triangles, squares, circles to create a dress pattern. The barrel cut design relies on a circle quadrant to create the silhouette.

Vionnet used barrel cut designs often in her designs and did not limit it to just sleeves. It is a unique way to use bias as a means to taper fullness instead of gathers or darts. Here are some other examples of barrel cut designs that I found in some modern patterns, which are likely also influenced by Vionnet.

Pattern Magic Stretch Fabrics by Tomoko Nakamichi

I will have to revisit these patterns again soon. For now, let’s get back to the Lemaire shirt. To my surprise, I actually found a pattern in my stash that uses a barrel cut design in the sleeve.

Vogue 1148 (Andrea Katz Objects)

I studied this pattern and other shirt patterns to see how I could make a shirt similar to the Lemaire shirt. After a bit of a math headache trying to resize a coat sleeve to a shirt sleeve, I knew there had to be an easier way. Then it dawned on me to look in the always useful Pattern Making for Fashion Design  by Helen Joseph Armstrong.

Ah ha! The “Lantern Sleeve”. The lantern sleeve is the same as the barrel cut sleeve. The Pattern Making book shows how to turn a straight hem edge of a shirt sleeve, which is basically a rectangle, into a semi-circle that creates the barrel cut style.

DRAFTING THE BARREL CUT SLEEVE PATTERN

Following the directions in the book, I began by taking my around the hand measurement and added 1/2 inch ease allowance. My hand circumference was about 8 1/4 inches so the measurement I needed was 8 3/4 inches. You will also need your sleeve length measurement (shoulder to wrist) and bicep measurement (circumference around largest part of your arm).

Next, you will need to find a basic sleeve pattern that does not a have a dart, pleats or gathers already incorporated in the sleeve. The book explains how to draft a sleeve pattern from scratch using your own measurements. I decided to just use a pattern I already had and make adjustments.

I figured this pattern would work fine since the length of the sleeve pattern measured approximately 22 inches which is the same as my arm length. Also, the widest part of the sleeve pattern, the bicep line, measured 14 inches compared to my bicep measurement of 11 1/2 inches, which leaves an appropriate amount of ease, 2 1/2 inches.

My pattern did have pleats at the cuff, so I used my around hand measurement to determine how much to reduce the pattern at the wrist line. The wrist line on the pattern measured 11 inches and I needed it to be 8 3/4 inches.

Next, I traced the shirt sleeve pattern onto tracing paper, following the seam line (5/8″ in from cut line).

On the tracing paper, I marked the new wrist line length by moving the end points 1 1/8 inch in on each side for a total of 2 1/4 inches (i.e. 11 minus 8 3/4) on the tracing paper. I trued the seam lines from the bicep to the new wrist line end points. Now, I had a basic sleeve pattern without pleats.

From this point, I followed the rest of the directions in the book, which is basically just the slash and spread method of pattern alteration. See above Figures 1-5 in book illustration. I ended up spreading each of the 7 lines 2 inches apart. I taped the slashed pattern to another piece of tracing paper, and added a 5/8 inch seam allowance around the outside edge.

Note: At first, I had only spread each line 1 inch apart. However, after I mocked-up just the sleeve in muslin, I realized it did not have the same fullness as the Lemaire shirt. So, I slashed and spread the pattern 2 inches instead. This time I got the fullness I wanted.

Voila! The barrel cut sleeve.

Now that I have a pattern, it is time to make a toile, a mock-up of the entire shirt in muslin. I will be using the Butterick shirt pattern that is pictured. The sleeve cap was never altered when creating the barrel sleeve, so it should still fit/align with armhole of the shirt front and back bodice pieces. We will see!