A very long time ago on the old forum I remember Hevsi posting something available from Morplan that you rolled along and it measured curves and that sort of thing - cannot remember exactly what it was called - and it sounded an excellent idea and I wish I had bought it then and there.
Well this week I am in the process of making up four identical tops all cut from my own pattern, first top - sleeves went in with no problem. Second top the sleeves particularly the sleeve head is coming up too gathered for my liking, and I have ground to a halt. Then I remembered something Surefit Designs had and were offering a while ago and it is called a Rollbe, it is a natty little hold in your hand wheel (20cm) that you can roll around any curve you like, and it has just arrived in the post this morning - I used Surefit's UK supplier Judith Johnson who is based near Banbury.
So once I have managed to get myself showered and ready to face the day I shall put this through its paces. Believe it or not I have tried measuring using the tape measure standing on its side, also using a flexible ruler and I keep on getting different measurements, so I am hoping that this Rollbe will sort that out for me. Whilst I can afford to lose some surplus fabric in the sleeve head, I really do not want to lose any in the circumference of the body of the sleeve as I have had an enormous amount of trouble to make this sleeve wide enough to go around my arm and then creating a sleeve head that fitted beautifully into an armhole that I also created. I am putting the difficulties down to my using a thicker cotton fabric than the first top which was a poly cotton, however I have two more poly cottons to set the sleeves in.
If anyone is interested in this Rollbe do go and look this up on Surefit Designs website - and yes having their representative here in the UK is a great help. I only ordered this on Thursday and Judith said she would put it in the post on Friday so fingers cross it would arrive today which it has - so excellent service.
So my task today is to get on with my six sleeves and get these tops all finished and put away so that I can move on to something else.