Peephole Jumper look-a-like

I spied this peephole fabric at Moreland Fabrics on one of recent visits, but couldn't quite image anything other than some 1980's trashy crop top!!! 

Not less than a week later the inspiration was found in this jumper from the Storm NZ website.

My immediate thought 'seriously how hard could that be to make', my daughter's immediate thought 'I want that'!  How lucky is she to have a mum who can sew, right!

I couldn't see the sense in buying a pattern when really it should be straight forward to draft myself.  I discovered this image on good ol Wikipedia, which was all I needed to get started.

We had to make some decisions based on her body and preferences.  The front neck was to be 2.5" lower than the back neck; we decided to slope the shoulder seams slightly; the sleeve cuffs were 4" deep and the body band 5" deep with the peephole finishing at the waist so the band would hug her hips.  We added 4" of ease in total to the circumference of the top to get the desired loose (but not baggy) fit.   With the plan in hand it was time to fabric shop (my favourite part).

We chose a white singlet to wear hoping that it would show off the peephole better.

Perhaps it could have been about another 2" longer in the body?

Very happy with how the neckline sits - not too high!

Drafting the pattern was the most time consuming part of this project.  Once that was done cutting and sewing took no time at all - love those kinda projects :-)

Now back to finishing her lace dress.

Stretch Lace Dilemma

I'm a little bit stuck on how I might go about attaching sleeves to this stretch lace dress, so I'm hoping my sewing blog friends might be able to lend me a helping hand (pretty please).

Doesn't look much just on the hanger!

The story so far:  using a pattern from a Burda Magazine, some beautiful stretch lace underlined with a cotton/lycra that stops at the sweetheart neckline but the lace carries on to cover the chest and shoulder blades - I've achieved the desired look for the dress, however .....

a clearer picture of the sweetheart neckline

My daughter wants the dress to have sleeves - lace sleeves!  The lace is easy to sew when attached to the cotton/lycra underlining but on it's own it's a different story ...  it's probably more like a stretch mesh to sew.

I'm going to finish the neckline with some clear elastic, just enough so the neckline sits against the body and I'm sure this will be easy enough because the elastic will provide a bit of stability for the lace.   To provide some strength over the shoulders I've got some thin straps attached to the underlining which will remove any pull on the lace over the upper body (good plan I think!)

But I am stuck on how to get the sleeves in place.  I've thought about using the stretch clear elastic, but I think that would just feel funny to wear.  Next, maybe using some 1/4" stay tape, apply to the sleeve edge of the dress then fit the sleeve into place.  I am a bit worried that this will be too stiff for the stretch lace and will make the sleeve seam look rigid when the dress is worn.

This has been sitting on my sewing desk for a month, while I ponder.   I'm now getting pressure from the daughter who wants to wear it.  Soooooo I would really appreciate any recommendations that you might have on my sleeve dilemma. 

Thanks in advance :-)

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