Advice needed

[hernibs]

Well, I bought a Basler 'blouse' on ebay which is just my style.  It is blue and white striped, two zipped pockets on the breast and  turn up on the short sleeves with tabs. 
It has turned out to be more like a soft jacket to be honest..the fabric is 'heavy'....and whilst I need the size at the hem to cover my tummy I have  narrow  shoulders.  It also has thin shoulder pads. 
My question is this.....if I rip out the sleeves and cut around the armhole to narrow the shoulder a little will the existing sleeve still be large enough to sew back on the new shape?    My own answer is probably not  but I'd like to hear what you think. If I did rip out the sleeve could I also take in the shoulder seam at that time or would that affect the drape.   If not removing the sleeve etc  then I may just take in the sleeve seam and a little of the side seam ending up before my tummy bump....that would be the simple way but that still leaves me with wider shoulders than I'd want.
The alternative is to re-sell but I love the blouse with it's collar and would like to keep it.
Whilst my mother was super at alterations I am not!  Hence I am wondering should I or should I not?
Your input will be greatly appreciated.

[Tamnymore]

I'm sure you will be able to alter it to your satisfaction @hernibs. Interestingly I've just taken about an inch off each shoulder (without the sleeves attached) on a top I'm making by cutting an inch off off each shoulder then grading down to the side seam. It hasn't actually a huge difference to the circumference of the armscye in my case and the sleeves still fit OK. However, there was a little bit of fullness in the sleeve heads which I've now probably used up. Common sense would suggest that the armscye is bound to get a bit bigger if you make the alteration I've just suggested. You could tack round where you would ideally like to alter your armscye and then measure the circumference of the 'new' armscye vs the old one before cutting to see how much difference it would make.

Is there any stretch in the fabric? If so it will be a lot easier to make the kind of alteration I'm suggesting. Have you any seam allowance to play with in the sleeves if you have to make them a bit wider to fit into the new armscye?

Another 'quick and dirty' method I've used to narrow shoulders involves taking a dart across each shoulder seam going down the front and back a few inches. Depending on the garment's style that might work- in fact it can be surprising effective and you don't have to take the sleeves out. You would probably have to lose the shoulder pads. You could experiment by tacking a couple of such darts at the same point on each shoulder - maybe end the dart just before the pockets - to see if it would work and to see whether it upset the balance of the sleeves. In the top I did it was fine.

[hernibs]

Thanks Tamnymore... grateful for your advice..... I never thought of those shoulder darts and will give that a try before anything else.  Sounds a lot less drastic than taking out the sleeves.
Just went to check..... I see no problem with darts provided I make sure they end in the centre of a stripe and of course at the same level.
Will report back.
(Always think of you when we turn off our M1 at Tamnamore roundabout to cut across the country to Cookstown).
Joyce

[wrenkins]

(Always think of you when we turn off our M1 at Tamnamore roundabout to cut across the country to Cookstown).

So do I as I whoosh past the roundabout on my way West. 

[Tamnymore]

Well both of you are not a million miles away with my name @hernibs and @wrenkins. Tamnymore is on the outskirts of Derry/Londonderry and it's where my grandmother's family were from.

[hernibs]

Goodness, away to search that out.....

[hernibs]

One  map gives part of your townland on the Glenshane Pass - the scenic road to Derry/Londonderry.....the other gives the townland nearer the city. I didn't realise you were using your old homeplace, albeit Grandparent's 'old homeplace' as your forum name.  It's a small world.

[Tamnymore]

I always thought it was quite an attractive name @hernibs and made a nice reminder of the old country.