Himekaji Bolero Sewing Tutorial

Hi cutie gals! It's been so long since I've made a post! In fact, the last time I posted was the day before term started, and now, it's week 6 (I think) and all my assessments are nearly over!

So, today I'll be giving you a super super cute and really easy sewing tutorial for this bolero inspired by this DearMyLove garment:

This project is really quite simple and quick to do, I'd say you could have it done in a few hours! So let's start cutie gals!

Difficulty: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ - Confident beginner

It's so perfect for himekaji and is a good way to add some colour or modesty if you need it. I made mine out of the same fabric I made my ruffled sukapan from (and the tutorial is here) This is a classic 120gsm poplin, so it has some nice structure, but won't provide much warmth. You could also make this out of a really lightweight fabric such as chiffon, or even lace which would be soooooo adorable. Or, you could make it out of a thicker fabric such as tartan for extra structure. I am pretty sure that the DearMyLove one is actually a stretch fabric, so I guess that works too.

I really like how this matches my ruffled sukapan, don't you love a good coordinate! And it would be so easy to add lots of cute details too as well, I just didn't this time because I wanted to make it match. However, I think that I might make a cream or pale pink one some time and dress it up a bit!

This pattern will suit most people, but I don't think I would really recommend it if you have a large bust because the base pattern doesn't have any darts or shaping or anything, so you might find that it may not suit you if thats the case. If you're unsure, you can just use some scrap fabric to construct the front and back panels and then see if it's worth making in full.

This is part one of the tutorial, where I'll teach you how to modify the pattern and make the bolero. Next week, I'll show you how to make a matching hair bow.

Section 1: Preparing the pattern

Print out "Party Bolero" pattern from DrCos
Lay out all the pieces and stick them together
Cut out the front and back panel, but don't cut the sleeves. Make sure you cut off the seam allowance too, since we are changing the pattern slightly later
Glue the pieces together as directed - there are letters on the side of each print out that help you piece everything together
Place the pattern pieces on top a piece of paper, and trace around the armhole onto the paper
Make sure you trace out the seam line too
Slide that piece of paper up 3-4cm, depending on how much smaller you want your armhole. I only did 3cm.
Trace around the armhole again, blending if neccessary
Move away the pattern pieces and cut out the initial armhole

Cut up the seam line, and then stick each piece of the paper to its respective pattern piece like so
On the back panel pattern, mark a line in the centre of the pattern that starts at the bottom and goes about halfway up the back. I used the cutting line as a guide, but this will be different for different paper and pattern sizes (I did size L A4)
At the bottom of the line, mark 1.25cm on either side of the line you just made, then taper it up to the top to make a dart. This is optional, but I found that otherwise, there was a lot of extra space at the back
Because we've heightened the armhole, we need to create a new sleeve. I used this super easy tutorial by Eve Tokens that uses the measurements of the armhole to make a basic sleeve block that fits. I added an ease of 3cm to my bicep measurement, so 27cm became 30cm. I did my sleeve length to be 6cm below the shoulder line, which i think was 22cm...
Once you have the sleeve block prepared, I'd recommend doing a practice toile to make sure it and the modified bolero body fits right. we are going to make it a puff sleeve soon, so just make sure it generally it fits and looks okay - you only have to try one sleeve for this
Now that you have your final iteration of the sleeve block, trace it onto a piece of paper
On this piece of paper, copy the three lines that you had on the original sleeve pattern, then split the two middle columns in half like so
Cut out each piece and lay them on a large piece of paper
Now, we are going to use the slash and spread method to create a puff sleeve. Spread the pieces so that the two outer pieces are 1.5cm apart, while the middle four have 2.5cm of space between them. It should look like so.
Trace around the edge of the pieces, then move them away and blend the lines together like so.
Make a mark 2cm above the centre to raise the cap height, and blend the line so it's a little higher just along the top as shown in the picture below.

Section 2: Assembling the bolero body

Cut out the back panel on the fold, then cut two sleeves and two front panels, making sure you cut a left and a right (don't cut the same piece twice, either fold over the fabric or put the pattern face down)
I used a 10mm seam allowance for everything.
Use your pattern to mark out the darts on the back of your fabric like so
Prepare the dart so it looks like this
Once you make both darts, it should look like this
Now we will add the front panel. I am going to make a french seam, so i'll start by putting wrong sides together, then sew with a 5mm seam allowance
Then, I'll cut down the seam allowance so it's very small, then I'll fold over the fabric so it is now right sides together, and sew with a 5mm seam allowance again and I will end up with a lovely concealed french seam like so
Repeat this on the other side and you're halfway through making the bolero!
Now, french seam the shoulders as well

Section 3: creating the puff sleeves

Get your puff sleeve, and place the two edge pieces that you cut earlier on your pattern
Mark the tip of each piece with tailors chalk, one line for the back and two for the front (i think normally it is two for the back and one for the front but i forgor....)
Starting at one of the lines and ending at the other, create a gathering stitch by using the longest stitch length and 5mm seam allowance, being sure to leave a trail
Repeat this for both sleeves
Pull the bobbin thread gently to gather the tip of the sleeve, it should start curving inwards like this
Seam up the side - again using a french seam
Right sides together, pin in the sleeves, making sure the seam of the sleeve matches the side seam of the bolero.
Also ensure that majority of the gathers are right at the top, but you can soften them out to spread over the shoulder a bit, then sew in the sleeve!
Once you've sewn the sleeve in and tried on the bolero to make sure it fits well, I'd recommend overlocking/zig zagging the armhole
Now, cut two rectangles that are 3cm wide and your bicep measurement + 1.5cm long (just make sure this is wide enough for your whole arm to get through) - also don't forget to add 10mm seam allowance on each end of the rectangle, so it'll more be like bicep+1.5+2cm long
Fold the rectangle in half, then in half again, ironing with lots of steam to create mock bias tape
Right sides together, sew each rectangle into a loop with a 10mm allowance, which you should then trim to 3mm
Just to restore the folds from before, I'd recommend pressing again
Back to our sleeve, starting 5cm from the seam line, create a gathering stitch 5mm from the edge, finishing 5cm from the seam line on the other side
Like with the shoulder puff, gather mainly on the outer edge, slightly tapering it out as you go. However, there shouldn't be much gathering, only a 1.5cm reduction since we are just reducing the ease allocated.
Pin the mock bias tape to the edge of the sleeve, making sure it covers the edges and gathering stitches fully
Sew with a matching or contrasting thread colour, I used a 3mm stitch length to topstitch. As you can see here, the subtle gathering is focused to the area opposite to the sleeve's side seam.

Section 3: Creating a facing

Now, because this bolero has curved edges *all* over, we are going to add a facing! This is like a partial lining, which just covers the raw edges of something.

To start off, trace around the bottom of the back panel pattern, just with a width of 4cm, and make sure you mark darts
It should look like this, I'd recommend marking the back (B) and side (S)
Do this on the front panel as well
Ignore the writing...I'm always using scrap paper haha
On the neckline of the back panel, just go down the shoulder seam by 4cm, you don't need to do it all
Now you'll have your three lining pieces
Cut the neckline and and back facing on the fold, and make sure to make one of each side for the front panel, I made the mistake of cutting two of the front right facings, but it's not too much of an issue since you don't see the facing much.
Also notice the line on the neckline and front facing edge, that is where these are joined
Don't forget to add the darts to the facing!
Once you join all the facing pieces together, it should look like this, except for the one facing I cut wrong 😑
Pin the facing right sides together to the edge of the bolero, doing your best to match up the seams
Sew together, again using your 10mm seam allowance as standard
Once you've sewn the facing on, open it up and sew the seam allowance onto the facing to understitch and secure it.
Overlock the edge of the facing not sewn onto the bolero
Since my poplin was fairly lightweight, I tacked the facing onto the darts and seam allowances where possible just to prevent it falling down and poking out.
Iron everything so it's all nice and smooth and you're done! I'm so happy with mine and can't wait to wear it out~