The Sewing Place
The Emporia => Sewing Professionally => Topic started by: Sandra on March 16, 2018, 10:37:38 AM
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I have been asked how you shorten the sleeves on a shirt. So I thought I'd show you. :)
(https://i.imgur.com/VipkIFql.jpg)
This is a classic shirt with cuff and placket. It has been pinned for the length by pinching up the amount which needs to come off...in this instance you can see a 1 inch fold pinned around the elbow, so I need to take off 2 inches.
Most shirts have the button placket and I feel it looks much better if I raise it.
It's a much easier job without this if you are able to simply take the cuff off, cut off an inch or so and reattach the cuff, but you're not always so lucky.
(https://i.imgur.com/UFy25ZSl.jpg)
Firstly, you need to unpick the cuff and the small button which sits on the placket....then unpick the placket strips. Do one sleeve at a time. You can always refer back to the other one to be sure you're getting it looking right.
Chalk up the amount to come off the sleeve bottom, and chalk up how much you need to raise the placket...in this case 2 inches.
(https://i.imgur.com/GnGs9nUl.jpg)
You can see we have a little triangle shape where the top of the original placket sat...I chalk a line up 2 inches with a ruler...mark the top of the triangle with a pin...and draw a new triangle shape down from there.
(https://i.imgur.com/2jfj0rVl.jpg)
Aaaand....cut....to the bottom tip of your new triangle...then outwards to make yourself a new triangle which is now exactly 2 inches up from the old one.
(https://i.imgur.com/F9sZq0Ll.jpg)
Now you can start putting it back together again. :) Begin with the underneath facing strip...the one the small button was stitched on to. Tuck the cut edge into the strip getting as close as you can to the top corner point of your triangle. (Don't stress about it too much...it will be hidden beneath the top strip when that's re-attached, but it's nice to catch it in as best you can).
(https://i.imgur.com/dHYkmErl.jpg)
Now you can put the other strip back on....This facing strip piece has been squared off at the back, so you need to tuck this up as snug as you can to the top corner of your triangle. Fold your triangle upwards on the right side of the shirt...as it was originally. It will be neatly covered and hidden when it's all finished.
(https://i.imgur.com/ZbpSCQml.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/epO1GMEl.jpg)
Pin the strip on, making sure it lines up neatly over the piece you've just stitched on. Make sure that little triangle is pointing upwards and is going to be hidden, so you won't see it on the inside of the shirt sleeve.
(https://i.imgur.com/xLFP2Lil.jpg)
Stitch it on...I usually start at the top and work my way down.
(https://i.imgur.com/JHI78FNl.jpg)
And from the back it looks nice and tidy too. :)
I give it a press at this point.
(https://i.imgur.com/p6831Asl.jpg)
Now you can put the cuff back on. You will have more sleeve than cuff because there will have been a pleat in the sleeve....you have shortened the sleeve, so now you will have a bit more fullness due to the sleeve widening. Some shirts have a single tuck of fabric...others have two. I don't think it matters...decide what looks best.
Ensure everything lines up neatly. Fasten the cuff button to make sure you have both sides of the placket the same length.
(https://i.imgur.com/LJBQqdel.jpg)
Stitch it on and all you have left to do it to restitch the little button back on.
(https://i.imgur.com/qIh2j7Bl.jpg)
Hope this all makes sense? -<
Sandra.
xxx
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Thank you Sandra, lovely clear instructions and photos.
It's wonderful when people take so much time to help others.
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That’s really neat and professional... I’d stop at the first picture and leave a dirty big tuck! Lol!
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Me too Efemera and I'd even gone so far as to think if I did it at the elbow bit it wouldn't show in amongst the wrinkles!!! Shame on me. :|
(I still have that on the back burner if it all goes horribly wrong! ;) :ninja:)
Thanks for the tute Sandra although it did bring me out in a bit of a cold sweat and make me squeak a little!!!! :o
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Any reason you don't shorten at the armscye?
I bought a Craftsy class that shows how to shorten jackets at that seam rather than altering the placket as you did. So I'm wondering what your reasons are to employ this method.
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Any reason you don't shorten at the armscye?
:[ Nobody ever taught me to do it any other way.
Sandra.
xxx
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:[ Nobody ever taught me to do it any other way.
0_0 Ok! I think it would work on shirts, especially men's shirt that seem to have dropped shoulders vs women's blouses that set sleeves at the shoulder ball.
Let me look up the technique and I will share, in case you want to try it sometime. Watch this page!
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Thank you Sandra. Your tutorial comes with perfect timing for me. Not that I'm shortening a sleeve, but I am about to sew plackets for blouse sleeves and your explanations and photos make it all very clear.
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Shirt sleeves taper towards the cuff. If you take out the sleeve and cut parallel to the sleeve head, the new cut will be shorter
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That's a lovely clear tutorial, thank you.
Although a cuff can be a bit fiddly I think it would be much more work to shorten from the top. It's not only that due to the taper of the sleeves the new sleeve cap might not fit properly, but also men's shirts are always constructed by sewing the arm scye seam first and then the sleeve and side seams in one pass. To shorten from the top you would have to unpick a significant length of both of those seams, and then resew them. Given that most shirt seams are flat felled with a 2 needle, 2 looper double chainstitch industrial machine it would be pretty tricky to blend in using a regular machine.
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That's a brilliant tutorial @Sandra. Thank you.
Can you tell me, about how long would that alteration take you?
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Depends on how many you've done before I would imagine! Might take me forever. :S Might take @Sandra a minute and a half! 0_0
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Sandra, thanks so much for this. I often need to make alterations - although I don't love it, and it's really useful to have a step by step for this one.
OH often mentions that the sleeves on shirts are a bit long, my answer up to now has been that short sleeves are good.... ;)
Jessie
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That's a brilliant tutorial @Sandra. Thank you.
Can you tell me, about how long would that alteration take you?
You're welcome. :) I hoped it might be useful if anyone needs to shorten sleeves.
How long?.....I don't really know. Erm.....probably between 30 - 45 mins. Definitely longer than a minute and a half. 0_0
Sandra.
xxx
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I'm still sticking with me taking forever though... :|
I do talk about it. :) I talk about a lot of things me..... :(
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Another problem with shortening from the top is that they don't always do a felled seam by stitching. Some I have been given are glued and then top stitched. I would not have attempted it if the person had not also wanted the shoulder seam shortening, which means recutting the armscye - and there is not enough height where you want it redrawn. Yes, he was a very unusual shape so could not buy a smaller shirt. Absolute nightmare, don't go there.. It would have been easier to make a shirt to measure, but I was careful not to say that in case I was asked to do it. >:)
Normally, I'd go for the cuff end every time. Something very satisfying about setting in that little placket -how sad it that?
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Wow Sandra. I'm so impressed at your sleeve modifications. I would never have the patience for that.
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Thanks or this tute. It looks fiddly but not too hard, thanks to your great pictures. I recently had a client ask me if I could do the same alteration but I wimped out. I know how to do it now!