May 22, 2008

Setting in a sleeve

This is my poor reproduction of a sleeve about to be set in a dress, coat, or a blouse. One of the hardest task in sewing, was to sew this so that the sleeve would lay smooth and flat on your shoulder. It would either come out puffed or wound up with pleats. This file shows the steps in how to get that flat look. I hope this isn't too confusing for those that do not sew.

The first thing I noticed about the FLDS women were that they looked like a 19th century version of the Steppford Wives. Each only distinguished by the height of their pompadour, color of their dress and their physical size.

When this group started, many women made their own clothes, so setting in a sleeve would have been known. Did the woman who determine the style of the dress and coat actually know how to sew, or was just to lazy to set in a sleeve. For whatever reason this has been duplicated thousands of times. The one thing I would have like to have asked the ladies, was it going against god if they had gathered the sleeve while sewing it on; or did they never think of it.

You see every one of these sleeves are pleated and so are their coats. This could be that style, but usually it is a way a novice copes with setting in a sleeve.
I do think this is just specific to this one church.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Didn't you notice all their dresses seem to be cut from the same pattern? Since the style got so much usage, I've always wondered if they had a graded set cut out on oak tag :).

Hathor said...

Yes I did notice. I wonder why they are the same. Was it the mens desire that they look alike to keep down the competition. In other groups the women have bright colors and even prints. Although the dresses are somewhat 19th century.