Sleeve cap ease to fit around your shoulder is a myth

My most popular blog entry is Tutorial: Reduce/Remove Sleeve Cap Ease. Excessive ease in set-in sleeves continues to be a source of frustration for many. Still, there are those that continue to insist that sleeve cap ease is necessary in order for a sleeve to fit over the curve of your shoulder. Another well meaning sewist claimed my tutorial only worked for children's clothing (my specialty) because children are smaller, but adults definitely need ease.

Kathleen has written a now classic blog entry, Sleeve Cap Ease is Bogus (including a sequel). She even did a series on how to draft an armhole and sleeve correctly so that no ease is needed (partially gated). It would be worth your time to go back and reread those blog entries.

This idea that ease is needed for proper fit is interesting. Unfortunately, it is a false concept. A sleeve should not fit over the curve of a shoulder. Instead, the sleeve should hang straight down from the shoulder. The shoulder seam needs to extend long enough that it reaches to the widest part or tip of the shoulder. In the picture below you can see the shape of both the shoulder and armhole. This draft will allow the sleeve to hang from the shoulder.

Kathleen goes into greater detail about this in her blog entries. If you draft a sleeve as instructed by many pattern making manuals with the recommended 1-2 inches of ease, you will not be able to get beautiful looking sleeves like the ones found being worn by the actors of His Girl Friday. Notice the placement of the armhole seams.

Instead, you will get a sleeve that looks something like this:

Photo courtesy of Kelly Hogaboom and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Sleeve caps with ease amount to lazy pattern making, or at the very least pattern making without knowing better.

Children are really not much different when it comes to fit and pattern design. They do have fewer overall curves, so in many ways pattern making and fit are simpler. What curves they do have though, are smaller. Sewing a set-in sleeve in an infant sized bodice is in many ways more difficult. There is less length to work with and tighter curves. If ease is included it is just enough to allow the operator to get around that smaller circumference easier. The amount of ease is very small (1/4 to 1/2 inch) and is entirely dependent on the fabric. In many cases, it is not needed at all because the differential of a machine can be adjusted.

I can understand if this seems unbelievable. It certainly goes against the grain of conventional sewist wisdom. The best way to know, is to try it for yourself. Try using a pattern with sleeve cap ease and one without. Which sleeve is easier to sew in? Which looks better? At the end of the day, you choose which sleeve you prefer to work with.

T-shirt pattern quest pt. 6 : How to correct the fit of the armhole of a fitted t-shirt

I created some drawings to further explain the armhole problem on my t-shirt pattern. Nearly all drafting instructions that I've seen for t-shirts are pretty much the same. First you enlarge the armhole and drop the shoulder. Then the front and back bodice are traced off with identical bodice shaping and armhole shaping. The only difference might be the neck. If you lay the pattern pieces on top of each other, you will get something like this.

This kind of pattern works ok for a boxy, loose fitting t-shirt. If you want a more fitted t-shirt, then it simply won't work. In my case, the symmetrical armholes caused the front of the shirt to be pulled toward the back. The closer the fit, the less symmetry in general. When you look at the human body, you can see there is no symmetry between the front and back so patterns should reflect this. (Most people are not truly symmetrical left to right either). Children generally are more symmetrical than adults and the patterns for them reflect this. But, even there, the more fitted the style, the less symmetry though the differences are smaller. Anyway, the patterns above resulted in a fit that looked like below. The red arrows help emphasize the shape and length differences of the front and back armholes.

To correct this problem, I needed to lengthen the back armhole. I compared the armhole of my blouse pattern, which was not symmetrical, to the t-shirt armhole to determine how much longer it should be. Slash and spread and the pattern should look like something below.

 With a result that looks much improved.

The next thing on my list is to make adjustments for front versus back body width.

T-shirt pattern quest pt. 5 : Evaluating the fit of the armhole

I sewed up two more samples of my t-shirt pattern. I was still not satisfied with the fit. There were wrinkles around the armhole and elsewhere. I spent a bit of time studying the pictures below to try understand the fitting problem and how to solve it.

It finally occurred to me why the armhole was giving me so many problems. The back armhole was too short. You can actually see in the picture that the front of the t-shirt is being pulled toward the back at the shoulder seam and underarm. The fix was rather simple - make the back armhole longer.

What a difference, don't you think? There are some other fit problems. I'm still debating the amount that I scooped out on the front armhole. I think I may need some extra width across the front. And then there is the sleeve that wants to twist. But overall, this is pretty good and those complaints are minor. Will there be a version 5.0? Probably.

Tutorial: Reduce or Remove Sleeve Cap Ease pt. 2

I received a really great question on my previous tutorial on how to remove or reduce sleeve cap ease. Gina's question deserves it's own blog post.

Well, what do you do if you have big arms but too much ease? If I move it over I will lose bicep room. I am working with a dress right now and everything fits but the sleeves are tight and the have too much ease. How do I widen the sleeve get rid of ease and fit it to the armhole?
Thanks

This is a really great question and may require me to consider re-writing my tutorial. My previous tutorial is based off my experience drafting patterns for children's clothing. Usually it is not a problem to reduce the bicep line because it's usually too big anyway. My overall changes are small because I am perfecting patterns that I have drafted myself.

If you are working with a commercial pattern for adults, the approach will be similar. You can't always reduce the bicep line and the overall changes may be quite significant. Patterns from the Big 4 notoriously have too much sleeve cap ease. To be fair, if you follow the drafting instructions in some pattern drafting books, you end up adding in a fair amount of ease too. One pattern making book has instructions that result in as much as 1.5 inches of ease in a set-in toddler sleeve. Way too much. Such a practice is not common in the fashion industry and the production sewers will refuse to set-in the sleeves.

I had difficulty coming up with a solution and so I had to ask my pattern making friends at the Fashion Incubator Forum. We have to assume that everything fits Gina as it should, though it's possible there is some other fit issue that is contributing to the bicep width problem to begin with.(1) There are two possible solutions and neither is quick nor easy. Both will require testing. To add bicep width, slash and spread or slash and pivot the sleeve to the desired measurement. This alteration will require fixing the sleeve cap anyway.

1. Draft a new sleeve from scratch. (My solution)

2. Reduce the sleeve cap height equal to the amount of ease to be removed. (From Nora of the Fashion Incubator Forum).

Sometimes it's just easier to start over. It may save time in the long run and you will get exactly the sleeve you want.

If you would rather fix the sleeve, you can try Nora's suggestion. Nora's suggestion leaves the bicep width alone and only adjusts the sleeve cap height.

1. Begin by walking the sleeve along the armhole in a similar manner to my previous tutorial. In this case, start at the bottom and walk the armhole toward the shoulder. You will need to walk the sleeve on both the front and back armholes matching up the front of the sleeve with the front bodice and the back bodice with the back sleeve. Your sleeve should not be symmetrical and you will need to check the entire armhole. As you work, you may want to check the entire armhole and sleeve cap.

2. Measure from the seam line of the shoulder on the bodice to the center notch of the sleeve. This will be equal to the amount of ease on one side of your sleeve. Repeat for the back armhole. Total up the ease for the front and the back of the sleeve. This will equal the total sleeve cap ease.

3. Reduce the sleeve cap height equal to the amount of ease that needs to be removed and redraw the sleeve cap. You will need to repeat these steps until you get exactly the amount of ease needed to set the sleeve and no more.






Neither Nora nor I can guarantee that this method is the answer. This method will require lots of back and forth testing and iteration. The method is similar enough to my previous tutorial that I think it will work eventually. If you have the patience for lots of testing, then go for it. Also remember that you may still need *some* ease. When we say zero ease, we don't really mean zero ease. You may need some to help set the sleeve in. The only way to know is to sew up a few samples. 1/4" to 1/2" of total ease is not unusual. This ease is required to help sew opposing curves together. The sleeve should be against the feed dogs as it moves under the foot and the action of the feed dogs may require a little bit of ease so that the sleeve cap and armscye meet up in the end.

1. The armhole could be too small or too big. It may be in the wrong location or scooped wrong under the arms.


Thanks to Nora for her suggestion.

Correcting the fit of petal sleeves in a wedding dress pt. 2

I finally had a chance to do up some line drawings to illustrate the problem with the petal sleeves of the wedding dress I recently altered. There are more pictures in the blog entry Petal Sleeves pt. 1.




The shape of the sleeve pattern adds a lot of extra material under the arm - creating almost a circular sleeve. The hem of the sleeve flapped around like wings. IMO, it wasn't very attractive. Even though the dress was a plus size dress, I can't imagine any woman wanting this style. I find it hard to believe the designer intended this either. I could be wrong since I am not familiar with wedding dress design. I do know that wedding dresses are designed to be easy to alter so perhaps the designer allowed for extra underarm width to accommodate the size of any upper arm. Even so, with the combination of removing excess shoulder height, recutting the armholes and sleeves, the alteration was not that easy. I dare say, it is either sloppy pattern making and/or grading. I would pin the source of the problem on grading from a size 6 all the way into a plus size. I (and Kathleen) have blogged about this many times (search for "Grading is not morphing" at Fashion-Incubator). Plus sizes should have their own patterns separate from Misses sizes. Trying to save time and effort by "grading" patterns from a size 6 up into the plus sizes leads to problems like this. Of course, I don't really know if this is exactly what happened. I would need to look at the whole size range and even the actual pattern pieces to know for sure.

This is what the pattern pieces and fit looked like on the bride before the alteration. The petal sleeve is a regular cap sleeve in the example below. You can see the extra width added at the hem of the sleeve and the wings it creates under the arm.



Below is the shape of the pattern after the alteration. I probably removed a good 1.5" from the sleeve hemline. The fit of the sleeve looked 100% better.


Now if the intent of the pattern maker was to allow the bride to be able to lift her arms for dancing, then it was added in the wrong place. A gusset should be added at the underarm - not the sleeve hemline.

Wedding Dress Alteration: The Whole Picture?

I don't think I posted pictures of the whole dress I recently altered. Here is the top with the alterations marked with pins. Recutting the armhole and adjusting the sleeves was probably the most difficult part of the alterations. The bride really needed a little bit taken in at the back, but that is one alteration I did not attempt. The zipper and lining would have to be ripped out and I had no time for that. The dress shop provided double sided tape to help keep things in place (maybe they knew how poor fitting this dress would be). I recommended the bride go ahead and use it for the gap-osis I would not be able to fix - though I did fix most of it.


Here is the skirt. Really, the simplest style of skirt to shorten if needed. Just make the tucks a bit deeper. I probably should have gone ahead and taken 1" off the bottom hem too, but I just advised the bride to buy some heels. The skirt is completely underlined with tulle to help give the skirt some shape and hold the draped tucks.


The wedding was this last week and the bride was absolutely radiant with joy. She looked lovely and no one was the wiser that a neophyte alterationist did the job. Maybe I will post a picture of the big day once I get the pictures off the camera.

Correcting the fit of petal sleeves in a wedding dress pt. 1

I have been working on altering a wedding dress. It is, admittedly, a budget wedding dress available for less than $200 imported from China. I am by no means a wedding dress expert, so this little assignment is teaching me a lot about how wedding dresses are made today. There are some things about this dress that I found very interesting and innovative - things I have never seen before. And it is true, I haven't really looked at wedding dresses since my wedding many moons ago. In any event, dresses now have attached petticoats (I had to buy a separate one) and embedded, uh-hum, bust padding. On the other hand, there are some problems with this dress that clearly label it a budget dress, albeit a very pretty dress for the bride. And I should say the budget dresses available now are much prettier than they used to be. They have embroidery with beading, nicer fabrics, and that full, attached petticoat. Much fodder for future blog posts.

I'll show the nice features of the dress later. For now I will show show one of the problems. It is an annoying problem and one I was surprised to find. The dress has petal sleeves, which I have drafted before. I have even had this same problem show up. Can you spot the problem with the sleeves?


Even though this is on a hanger, the sleeves hang like this on the bride.

Here is the sleeve off the dress. I not only had to bring up the shoulders, but take the sleeves completely off to recut the armholes. The shoulders and armholes are part of a larger, but separate problem. This picture should give the problem away.

Standard Pattern Blocks- Flat vs. Classic

Tiki left some questions in comments and I thought I would address them in a separate blog entry.

I am reworking some of my patterns and have both Aldrich's and Armstrong's books as well. As you mentioned, I have noticed that my own kids' clothes from various manufacturers are drafted "flat" as Aldrich describes it, with the front and back patterns basically identical except for the neckline, but was wondering if you could explain more why that is the standard.

Here is a picture of what Tiki is talking about. Aldrich is the only other person I know of that addresses this topic. It is true that most childrenswear manufacturers work off of flat blocks, especially for infants. Aldrich only presents it for infant casual clothing. But I have seen variations of the idea spanning all children's sizes.


My basic blocks are a variation of the flat method. The armholes and shoulders of the front and backs pieces are identical. The body widths match (the long vertical line indicates the center back/front). The flat fit is a little more boxy and loose. My fit is not too boxy, but it does allow for some growth. You can see the fit of this bodice on one of my dresses. The patterns are not too boxy because the side seams do taper inward and my front waist has some curve. Aldrich's patterns have a straight side seam and waistline. BTW, I am not done refining the shape of this pattern - I am considering narrowing the shoulders and reducing the armhole. You have to start somewhere with your patterns, and they will evolve as you refine your fit.

I have read the discussion of armhole and sleeve shaping from Kathleen's blog and book and was wondering if the standard in the children's wear industry is due to simplicity in drafting, etc (perhaps because there is more ease built into the design of the garment itself) or if there is a specific anatomical/physical reason that makes drafting the asymmetrical sleeve/armhole unnecessary in children's wear. I guess, in other words, is that only the standard in loose children's garments or would drafting a more fitted children's garment with the same symmetrical sleeve still be correct/standard?

I can't say for sure why this is the standard. It is definitely not something I learned in school, but rather on the job. Tiki's instincts are probably right. There is a simplicity in the drafting of flat pattern blocks, and it does save some time. There is a physical limitation too. The smaller the size, the less practical it becomes to draft a classic block. A flat block gives some wearing ease and allows for growth. Children, after all, grow and a little extra ease allows the clothing to be worn longer. And yes, you can draft a more fitted bodice block with symmetrical armholes/sleeves. That is what I did with my patterns because it is what looked right to me. Here are some pictures of a classic, fitted block with asymmetric armholes (click on images for a better view).

This is a set of classic bodices sized three month. You can see the small armhole - there is little room to draw a nice curve. The back armhole is nearly a straight line. These drafts are based off of Aldrich's book. A classic block would be more appropriate for larger sizes.





This is a corresponding sleeve with an asymmetric sleeve cap. The sleeve cap seems really high and the curves are abrupt, IMO. These blocks could certainly work, but they require more refining. I opted to modify my blocks so they were semi-fitted and flat. The curves are easier and sewing is easier.

There is a relationship with children's body shapes and the flat method. Young children are simple round cylindrical shapes until about the age of 5 and it makes sense to keep the patterns simple.

I'm having difficulty understanding from Aldrich's book what makes the "flat" block or "classic" block more appropriate for a particular style, so I wondered what was standard practice here in the industry. I hope this makes sense.

I look at it this way. Flat blocks are good for casual styles, like t-shirts. Classic blocks are good for more formal looks. Flat blocks are good for infant sizes, classic for older. Your fit and look defines your design and you can opt for either method. Usually I see a modified classic block for fit, but with symmetrical armholes and shoulders (perhaps more of a convention rather than a standard). I have seen some designers use only classic blocks and others only flat. Really, the decision is up to you.

This is a topic I am still researching and trying to understand. I hate to label flat blocks as a standard because there are several possible methods that may be considered "right" or the "standard". Pattern making is considered a technical, rigid system, but don't be afraid to do things your way. I learn things from those who do not have formal training and are not afraid to do things a little different. Sure there are certain accepted standards for labeling patterns or placing notches. Acceptable shaping and fit is open to interpretation.

Sewing Tutorial - Set-in sleeves

This is my first sewing tutorial for sewing set-in sleeves flat - please forgive the photo intensive entry and anything that is not too clear. Here, I am testing some refinements to my cap sleeve pattern. I am doing the sewing with my domestic Singer 503 (a fabulous machine, btw). The technique is essentially the same on a 4-5 spool serger or industrial straight stitch machine. Some of this is my personal opinion, some fairly standard fabric handling techniques. Please note, my sleeve pattern has no ease.

Place the sleeve against the feed dogs, the body on top. Notice that I am using no pins, no basting, and no ease stitching. There is a single notch at the center of the sleeve cap. My sleeve is symmetrical front to back so there are no extra notches to indicate the back or front of the sleeve. Adult clothing would have extra notches, so make sure to match up fronts or backs or you will have a funny looking sleeve.



Do you see the placement of my hands? My left hand is holding the body and my right hand is controlling the sleeve. This is one of the major differences of industrial vs. home sewing. Home sewists like to pin the two layers together and have everything move together in lock step. With this method I can control the two layers as they move under the foot by ever so subtly pulling or pushing. It takes time, practice, and confidence in your pattern to develop this skill but it is absolutely essential.

This picture just shows that the shoulder seam and the sleeve notch meet up. Another industrial technique is that the operators will tap the foot pedal. Home sewers press down on the foot pedal like they are at the races. But during certain operations, the operator can gain more control by tapping the foot pedal. This can help while going around a curve.



This picture tries to illustrate why the sleeve should be next to the feed dogs. If there is any ease (and it should be minimal) the feed dogs will do the work of easing for you. My sleeve has no ease so this picture isn't accurate. If there were ease, it would look something like this on the inside.




This is a view of the top of the sleeve cap. There seems to be a few puckers, but that is a combination of poor lighting and the fabric - a poly-cotton broadcloth. The sleeve cap is actually nice and smooth.










Stitch the side seam from the waist to the sleeve hem making sure the armscye/sleeve cap seam allowances are turned toward the sleeve. The seam allowances, when turned in the right direction, will fill the sleeve cap and help give it a nice rounded shape from the outside. Some operators will allow the seams to lay in opposite directions (for bulk, they may go in opposite directions, but otherwise they shouldn't).


The finished sleeve.

A Problem With Cap Sleeves

Over the last couple of months I have struggled with drafting a toddler cap sleeve. For whatever reason, my infant cap sleeve came off without a hitch. I tried some quick and dirty pattern making by grading the infant sleeve up to 24M and using it as my toddler base. The shaping just didn't work and I had to actually draft a 3T sleeve. I used the opportunity to compare draft instruction between Aldrich and Armstrong and these are my results.

The actual draft instructions for either cap sleeve are fairly simple and easy to draft. Even so, I didn't like the shaping and resultant styles of either sleeve. I'll try to explain the differences of each. I had a stronger preference for the Armstrong version, but I still modified hers considerably.
The top sleeve is the Aldrich version, the bottom my modified Armstrong sleeve. The Aldrich sleeve is very straight - such a sleeve results in a large sleeve cuff opening. Her sleeve is not a fitted cap sleeve. The instructions were easy to follow, I just had a styling disagreement.

I much prefer a fitted cap sleeve. The basis of the sleeve draft must start with a regular sleeve block. Just draw in a style line similar to what you see in the photo for the shaping at the hem. There are some minor refinements detailed in the Armstrong book. The problem with the Armstrong draft is that the sleeve cap height was too high for a toddler. I decreased the cap height by about a good 1/2". Walk the sleeve cap along the armscye and adjust any length differences. Armstrong states there should be 1-1 1/2" of ease in the sleeve cap, which is simply too much. My sleeves have virtually no ease because I removed it. Sometimes the fabric calls for 1/4-1/2" of ease, but not anymore. A sewing operator will return a bundle with too much sleeve cap ease. It is just too difficult to sew in an industrial sewing. And in IMO, it doesn't do anything for fit or wearing ease. Armstrong's draft instructions are easy to follow and you can make any adjustments you prefer after you have the shape you want.

If you look closely, you will notice that my sleeves are symmetrical. This is because my bodice armhole shapes are identical for the front and back. This is typical in the industry for infant and toddler styles. In older children, this is not true and Aldrich's basic sleeve drafts illustrate the differences very well. Kathleen Fasanella has blogged much on the proper shaping of sleeve caps.

Here is a sewn sample. On the right is the Aldrich cap sleeve and my modified Armstrong sleeve is on the left. Can you see the difference in the sleeve shaping and cuff openings? The sleeve on the right is good for t-shirts and casual styles. The sleeve on the left is better for more formal, fitted styles. I have a few minor refinements to make and at least one more sew test and I will have my toddler cap sleeve done! (I am debating on adding 1/4" back to the sleeve cap height, overall I like it).

Either book will get you a basic cap sleeve. My eyes prefer the fitted style. Any questions? Anyone need draft instructions?