Sleeve work

A sleeve is the one part of a blouse that moves all evening, and it is where bad work shows first.

Why the sleeve is the test

Everything else on a blouse sits still. A sleeve bends at the elbow, rubs against a saree pallu, and gets caught every time an arm goes up. Glued stones come off the sleeve before anywhere else, usually by the end of the first function. Set stones, stitched in with thread, stay. If you are checking one thing about somebody's work, check what they do at the sleeve.

Design that survives movement

Long unbroken lines of heavy stone across a sleeve crack open as the arm bends. A repeating motif, or a border following the sleeve edge, moves with the fabric instead of fighting it. Elbow-length sleeves take more work than short ones simply because there is more of them, and full-length sleeves are their own decision.

Seen together with the neckline

On a boat neck or an off-shoulder shape the shoulders and collarbones are visible, so the sleeve work and the neck work are read as one thing. They should be designed as one thing, not chosen from two different photographs.

Send the sleeve length you want along with the design. It changes the quote more than people expect.