How are you supposed to top stitch all down a closed arm length sleeve?!

[Andymat]

Ah yes @HenriettaMaria I was just thinking what you want is the machine bed to run front/back not left/right as they generally are on a standard home machine. Perhaps a little over the top to get a machine specifically for this purpose but I can see why a factory might get one!

[Ohsewsimple]

Not necessary to top stitch the sleeves.  I’ve done it several times on those  I’ve made DH.  But this is a casual style shirt.  I’ve made one of her shirt patterns. It was ok.  But I had to add some matching points and ignore some of her instructions and go my own way.   

[Andymat]

Update...

Well I have finished, sort of. I haven't put in the button holes and added buttons. Perhaps I should as all good experience.

BUT... I sewed the side seams of the body front and back together and there is no mention of top-stitching the seam even though there is much more room than on the arms! But I did it anyway and caught the rest of the material in the needle and had to pull it apart and re-do!  The instructions did say to top stitch the yoke but I suppose that is to keep the shape too, more so than the sides or sleeves.

Similarly, no mention of pressing to the body or the arms for the arm connection. I am guessing I would press to the body and stitch around the arm? Would that be correct?

The semi-finished shirt fits well except that it has a boxed pleat in the centre back and the material is so light it tends to balloon up at the back enough for me to wonder if I should put in a couple of darts below the arms at the back to stop this happening. Would that be a good idea on the production version do you think?

Will add the pics of the toile as it is now.

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[HenriettaMaria]

You could stitch down some of the box pleat - not much, just a square - and you could add an X of top stitching to make it look like a feature.  I've seen that on RTW.  I wouldn't add darts unless you really know what you're doing and have a fit buddy to help get them in the right place and to the right size.

[BrendaP]

I have top stitched the length of a closed sleeve seam in the way Kwaaked described.  It's very fiddly and you just have to go slowly and squash it all as much as you can.  I'm pretty sure I used one of my vintage machines with a small presser foot.  Flatbed or free arm won't make any difference.

Start at the shoulder end and if you really can't get all the way to the cuff,  so long as you have got about 2/3 of the way down, stop and start again in the other direction.