Cap Sleeve Cowl test-run

I was in great need of a new dress to wear both at parties and work. Since I really like my cowl-neckline dress (the first dress I'm truly comfortable in!), I adapted the pattern to work better in winter by adding cap sleeves. Not as easy as I thought!

Since the top part of the cowl-neckline pattern is tilted to the side, the cap-sleeve made the arm-opening smaller, very small actually!

I decided the easiest way to work around it would be to add a bit to the pattern on top of the shoulder. I figured that then the cowl-neckline would get a bit deeper, but that that would actually be an improvement since I wanted the dress to be more party-like than the original.

To make sure everything worked ok before I cut into my material I made a test version-top from a cotton blend. This is the result.

I like it, but there's too much material in the back (in the sleeve opening), so I made a closed dart in the pattern from the back neckline to the back sleeve-opening to remove some of it.

I have added a how-to on Burdastyle here. The patterns is also available for free download there (in a size xs/European 34).