Help me alter this top!

[exhaustedpigeon101]

So I bought this for my Christmas party next week, but the balloon sleeves are just too big. I'm quite petite so it looks strange on me. Anyone got any ideas on the best way to make them a little narrower?

Ultimately I won't return it so if I ruin it at this point then oh well but I want to try and avoid that!

Style it with a big puffy skirt.

@FayCarew thank you, but I should have said I have the outfit planned and just the sleeves that I didn't like so I just wanted to see what the best way to unpoof them was. A big puffy skirt will not look good on me

What fabric is the top made of? Is it stretch.
How many times are you planning on wearing it?

I'm quite petite and hate balloon sleeves too. As EVERYTHING seems to have puffy sleeves these days I take a lot of new dresses and tops to a local seamstress who narrows them down for me. It seems quite straightforward, and is fairly inexpensive- I can usually get altered items back in a day or so.

f you're reasonably good with a needle then you can make a number of little darts in the tops of each sleeve tapering out at perhaps to 2 in above the elbow - this will reduce the fullness at the top but leave the elbow room to move.

I find it really tricky the set in sleeves especially with that fabric that looks stretchy and sequinned!
I would be tempted to remove a long semicircular shape from the underside of each sleeve, ( so less off each end like a piece of chocolate orange) but it would be a bit of a bodge.

Thank you all really helpful!

The bottom part of the sleeves are quite stretchy but the top ones not so much

I figured I could cut a section of the sequin material off (there's an under layer too) fold each section where I've cut open, and sew them back together so the seam doesn't look bad. Where it's sequins I think I can hide the alteration quite well.

But I will definitely look at some of these suggestions and show you the finished product when done (hopefully when these kids have gone to bed!)

@FayCarew I mean I would literally just be wearing it for this Christmas party and then maybe Christmas Day. If I did a good enough job and it holds I'd keep it for Christmas next year 😂

My advice would to get your oldest sewing scissors or at least not your best ones ready. Wear safety glasses when cutting. Be prepared to wear out your needle.

My real advice would to get some elasticated black thread and pinch the fabric in at the rear of the sleeves at various points in a straight line down the sleeves until it looked reasonably ok or to use safety pins, but I'd not wear sequins so have no experience of such alterations.

Put it on inside out. Pin or draw where you want it to fit. Sew along that line (using an appropriate seam allowance, such as 1 cm, because that's usually the width of your machine foot) and try it on the right way. Go from there. X

Eta, this is based on my experience of making many bodysuits. I make a larger size and then tweak for the perfect fit. You can always unpick the seam. Making stuff bigger is a lot harder after you've cut.

Fabric with sequins is a total pain in the ass to sew. You can't sew through them so you have to work out where you are sewing and then unpick the ones from the fabric that you are going to sew.

@BeensOnToost I couldn't do it inside out as there was an inner lining which was actually much more fitted than the sequin outer layer which is annoying

But I did manage to do it last night - I cut a section of the sequin layer off and basically sewed it back together on the underneath so it's not viable. If you look real close you can see it, but hopefully no one will be that close to me 😂

My diy and sewing isn't the best but it'll do! Thanks all