I recently finished a pair of Italian style tie-on sleeves that had been languishing in my To Do pile for a very long time. They are pale yellow cotton lined with cotton due to budget restraints but in the 16th century would most likely have been linen, wool or silk.
I machine sewed the back seam on each sleeve and lining piece, and then stab stitched down the seams to prevent them from moving or rolling and causing bulk. I then sewed the lining and outer piece together for each sleeve and turned it out right way out so that the seams were hidden on the inside. I honestly struggle with the mental gymnastics needed for this step so I always safety pin the sleeve together the way I think it is supposed to go, then turn it right sides out to check. If it is correct, I turn it inside out again, remove the safety pins and put in sewing pins and sew. Doing it this way has saved me a lot of unpicking over the years.
Once the top seam is sewn up, I cut triangles into the seam to reduce bulk and turn it all right side out. When both sides are done, I mark where I want t the eyelets for the ties to go. I usually do all five eyelets on one sleeve then put the other sleeve against it (fashion fabric to fashion fabric). Then I use the finished eyelets as a template for the next sleeve's eyelets. Eyelets are worked by hand with an awl and four strands of waxed thread.
The final step is to hem the sleeve. I hem the outer sleeve by hand first, then hem the sleeve lining by itself a little shorter than the outer sleeve, as invisibly as possible. Doing it this way takes longer, but if the lining stretches at a different rate to the outer sleeve the lining won't hang out weirdly.
I've also been doing some very boring but necessary mundane mending.
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