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Basic One Piece Sleeve
Sleeves are my current fitting obsession. The books I have gloss over minor issues, so I am experimenting with other methods. Come into my lab and see what's on the slab. (Work in progress)
First of all, make any needed adjustments to the bodice, especially the armscye and any forward shoulder adjustments, since this will affect the sleeve.
It doesn't get any more basic than this - a one piece, full length tapered sleeve with no shaping. This was traced from Burda 7136, minus the pleats at the hem, as this is the pattern I was working with at the time.. This particular sleeve cap has 1 inch of ease, but this can increase or decrease depending on the style and fabric. I enlarged the bicep by 1 inch (normal ease there is 2 inches for me) and lengthened it as I wanted a loose fitting sleeve for a UPF shirt for sun protection. For reference, my bicep is 13 inches (a bit larger than average), and my wrist is only 5.5 inches (smaller than average). This sleeve will not drape very well and will result in drag lines or a twisted looking sleeve. However, this can be improved with an easy pattern alteration.
First of all, make any needed adjustments to the bodice, especially the armscye and any forward shoulder adjustments, since this will affect the sleeve.
It doesn't get any more basic than this - a one piece, full length tapered sleeve with no shaping. This was traced from Burda 7136, minus the pleats at the hem, as this is the pattern I was working with at the time.. This particular sleeve cap has 1 inch of ease, but this can increase or decrease depending on the style and fabric. I enlarged the bicep by 1 inch (normal ease there is 2 inches for me) and lengthened it as I wanted a loose fitting sleeve for a UPF shirt for sun protection. For reference, my bicep is 13 inches (a bit larger than average), and my wrist is only 5.5 inches (smaller than average). This sleeve will not drape very well and will result in drag lines or a twisted looking sleeve. However, this can be improved with an easy pattern alteration.
Behold the Elbow Dart
Elbow darts were common decades ago, but I haven't seen one in years. It is easy to add this nice shaping to a one piece sleeve. Mark your elbow placement and draw a horizontal line across the width of the pattern. Cut the pattern from the seamline on either side in to, but not through the center, leaving a small hinge. On the back side, spread the pattern down 3/4 - 1 inch. The opposite side will automatically raise up like a teeter-totter. Fill in with scrap tissue/paper and tape everything in place. You have just created an elbow dart. Mark halfway from the seamline to the center. This is the end of the dart. Connect the lines and add a little extra at the side for the dart take up. Smooth out the opposite seam with a curved line. We need to add back length to this side that was lost from the overlapped tissue. Cut and spread the tissue at the hemline to the center and measure both seamlines to make sure they match. For some fabrics, you may be able to stretch the front seam and ease the back to match. The new hemline is a bit curved from all the slashing and spreading. Leave it as is if attaching a cuff or faced hem, or straighten out if desired. Redraw the grainline. You may want to test this sleeve on scrap fabric before making a real garment. Before and after pictures to follow.
Twisted Looking Sleeves
Here is a shirt I made for sun protection while walking the dog, and used a basic one piece sleeve. I designed it to be loose fitting, including the sleeves which are also extra long to cover my hands. This contributes to the drag lines which probably would be less visible in a closer fitting and shorter sleeve. But the dog does not mind and the neighbors have never laughed at my sleeves. There is a slight drag line from bust to upper hip. This would be taken care of by sewing a small waist dart (which the pattern did not have), and I pinned this in during fitting, but decided not to stitch it for now. For the next shirt, I may convert the side bust dart to a French dart which should solve that. For now, its all about the sleeves. (Full disclosure - these photos were taken with a self-timer, so not the best quality here.)
Arms Out
No one walks around holding their arms out, but the pattern companies show their technical drawings just like this. Interesting how the drag lines almost disappear. Photos of the models are often with hands on hips or something other than arms at sides.
Lilac Sun Shirt
Here is the same shirt and fabric in a different color (polyester microfiber sheet for sun protection), but with the adjusted sleeve with elbow dart. The drag lines have not completely disappeared as the sleeve is too loose for that, but they no longer look twisted. If the sleeve were narrower and shorter, they would look even better. I really need to sew in a waist dart.
Side by Side
Here is a side by side view for comparison. There is still a slight drag line which could possibly be reduced by adjusting the sleeve cap, but a good improvement over all. Keep in mind that there are 3 inches of ease at the bicep which also contributes to the drag lines. Now I may go back and sew in that waist dart as I feel it glaring at me. Another disclosure - one inch total was added to the front and deducted from the back at the side seams as there was a slight strain at the bust when I put my hands on my hips. Same circumference, just distributed differently. If you are curvy in the front and flat in the back, you may want to try this.
Sewing the Dart
Just a quick note about sewing darts. I go against convention and start sewing at the point. Sew 2 stitches right on the fold, then finish the dart. Leave long thread tails at the beginning and tie off by hand. If the garment is unlined, I like to hide the thread tails by burying them in the fold of the dart before cutting the thread.
Darted Shirt
True to my word, I did go back and stitch a dart in the lilac shirt, from the yoke seam, right through the hem, quick and dirty. I have since re-drafted the pattern into princess seams which eliminated the slight drag lines left behind on the side. I could have stitched the side dart a little deeper, but wasn't going to put any more work into this outdoor, dog walking, made from a sheet shirt, worn here with my indoor tropical rayon pants.
Where
Here I am, sleeveless and scowling trying to take a photo in the mirror while performing my balancing act. Sometimes it's hard to see our bodies objectively, and I was having trouble finding the top of my shoulder just by looking and feeling. Some fitting books say it is usually in line with the back of the ear. Really? For everyone? Apparently, not me. This is where the sleeve hangs from, so that information is important. Place a ruler on top of your shoulder and adjust it until it balances. Hint - the number 6 is the middle. A bit of tape on the bottom will keep it from sliding off. Mark the top of the shoulder with a pin, washable marker, small bit of tape, or a half inch Post-It Note like I did. Mark each shoulder separately. Now you know where to hang the top of the sleeve, regardless of where the shoulder seam is. The underarm seams may not match perfectly, but no one will see that. If that is important to you, adjust the sleeve pattern at the side seams to match with the bodice seams. This will also tell you if a forward shoulder adjustment is needed, and by how much. I recently tried on a dress that I made over 10 years ago and those shoulder seams really need to come forward today. I blame it on years of bending over a desk, sewing machine, cutting table, etc.
Shoulder Mold
I knew my right shoulder was shaped a little differently than my left and decided to use a flexible ruler to see the difference. Sometimes its hard to be objective while looking in a mirror. I placed elastics on the ruler at the crease where my upper arm joined the underarm and marked the top of the shoulder with a twist tie. Since I did this by myself, each shoulder was molded 3 times in an effort to be accurate. My 3-way mirror helped, but this probably is not perfect. Anyway, here are the results. Both measure almost 12 inches front to back, but the bone structure is different back to front. There it is in black and white. I drew in the triangles here as that is what I used to make my bra pattern (does this not look like something that should go in a bra?) and this helped me see the difference in the curves. I then used this information to draft a sleeve pattern. I have seen instructions for drafting sleeves using 1 inch in the back and 3/4 inch curves in the front, so this is not far off.
Glad Press
Just to be thorough, and out of curiosity, I also used some Glad Press'N Seal to make a mold of my shoulders. I marked my shoulder on my bare skin with a washable marker using my ruler trick, then pressed on a small piece of Press'n Seal where the sleeve cap would be, and traced around my shoulder where the sleeve seam would be, down into the upper arm. Again, this is not 100% accurate as I did it myself, but its pretty close. I placed it on paper starting in the middle and pressed my way to the top until the sleeve cap was standing up and I had to clip into it for it to lay flat (blue lines). This amounted to 1 inch, which happens to be the amount of ease in this sleeve cap. This gave me even more detail than the flexible ruler. You can see where my right shoulder comes forward more than the left by about 1/4 inch, and then curves back in, more than the left at this point. The sleeve cap may need to be trimmed a bit here and that will be checked when the sleeve is pinned in for fitting. The green line is a pattern I traced on for comparison for both shoulders. The green lines come out at the sides for wearing ease, there is no ease in my tracing.
Shoulder Mold Pattern
Here is the resulting sleeve pattern. The green line is the left shoulder which is about 1/4 inch lower in that area. This will be trimmed off the fabric. Now to sew up the sleeve to test it.
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