Adding Sleeves to a Strapless Prom Dress
The joys of Mormon Prom…dancing, dinner, and a fun night out on the town with friends! But wait…the drama!!!! Finding a dress with sleeves! It’s virtually impossible to find an affordable dress with sleeves, unless you plan on throwing down some major $$$CASH$$$ on a prom dress from one of those “modest dresses” websites. You’ll end up spending a couple hundred dollars more, for few dollars extra worth of fabric. But luckily, there are some wonderful options available that can save you quite a bit of money. Here is my hand drawn pattern in a pdf format for a free download. Free PDF Sleeve Pattern. I believe this cap sleeve pattern will fit anywhere from a 0 to size 8 dress, it may even fit up to a size 10. If you have basic sewing knowledge, the sleeves are very simple to make. They took me around an hour to complete, give or take.
Here is the finished dress with the added sleeves! It is beautiful! I was so pleased with the results!
Here is what the dress looked like before we added the sleeves! Gorgeous right! The only tricky part is finding matching fabric, and we were able to find fabric that matched perfectly from Joann! Joann’s has a great selection, and if you’re willing to take on a simple sewing project, the results can be well worth it!
This photo shows what the inside of the sleeves looked like. I cut a total of four cap sleeves, and four rectangles sized, 6.5 x 11.5 inches. This will make two sleeves. I folded the rectangles in half, right sides facing together, and then sewed them down the open edge (basically, I sewed them into a tube, turned them inside out, and then pressed them with the iron with the seam toward one side.) In the photo, notice where the two rectangles are sewn together. At this seam, I cut approximately 1/2 inch slope for the shoulders. Hopefully that isn’t too confusing for you novice seamstresses, but if it is, let me know and maybe I will put together a video depending on the feedback I get from this post. :-).
We then attached the sleeves with clear thread directly on top of the bodice. Pin the sleeves on while “she” is wearing the dress, then sew them on.
Beautiful girl! Beautiful Dress! Beautiful modest dress, fit for a Mormon/LDS Prom, or any church going function where a little extra coverage is needed!