Sewing Tutorial: Restyling Sleeves - Preparing the Garment and Pattern

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Whether it's fashion or necessity that motivates you, restyling a sleeve is a simple way to add style to any shirt. And now, it's also easy, thanks to this sleeve restyling tutorial, just one of many in Sleeves: A Directory of Design Details and Techniques (Select-n-Stitch) by Mindy Kinsey, published by Fox Chapel.
 
Tools:
 
-Measuring tape or ruler
-Flared, puffed or gathered sleeve pattern (your choice)
-Iron and ironing board
-Fabric scissors
-Seam ripper

Source: ,Amazon.com: Sleeves: A Directory of Design Details and Tec...

Step 1

To see if your sleeve is wide enough to restyle, measure around its fullest part — usually just above the cuff. Measure the hemline of your flared sleeve pattern. If the pattern hem is over 6 inches longer than the sleeve measurement, you cannot restyle your sleeves by this technique.

Step 2

Carefully remove the sleeves from the garment. Either remove the cuffs or open up the sleeve hems.

Step 3

Open the underarm seams of both sleeves and remove any ease stitching from the sleeve caps and cuff edges. Press the sleeve fabric flat.

Step 4

-If your pattern is for a puffed or gathered sleeve cap, skip to Step 8.

-If your pattern is for a regular set-in sleeve, which will require 1 1/2 inches of ease in the cap seam, measure the armhole seam line of the garment and the sleeve cap seam line of the pattern. Then subtract the garment measurement from the pattern measurement to determine the amount of ease in the pattern.

-If the ease is 1 1/2 inches or more, skip to Step 8. If the ease is less than 1 1/2 inches, subtract the figure determined in Step 5 from 1 1/2 inches to find the amount of extra ease you must add to the pattern.

Step 5

To add ease to the sleeve pattern, first draw a line that parallels the grainline arrow and extends from the pattern dot at the mid-point of the sleeve cap seam line to the hem edge. Then cut the pattern along the line.

Step 6

Tape the pieces of the sleeve pattern to a strip of paper, keeping the cut center edges parallel and separated by the amount of ease to be added (as determined in Step 4).

Step 7

Draw the sleeve cap seam and cutting lines and the hemline on the strip of paper by extending the original lines. Then mark a new mid-point dot on the sleeve cap seam line midway between the cut edges of the pattern. Trim the excess paper along the cutting lines.

Step 8

Place the original sleeves together, wrong sides out.

Step 9

Arrange the sleeve pattern on the fabric so the grain-line arrow is either parallel to the lengthwise grain of the fabric or on the true bias depending on how the pattern fits best. The hem and seam lines of the pattern should not extend beyond the original sleeve seam lines if these have left marks on the fabric. If the pattern fits within the edges of your fabric, pin it in place. Then cut out and mark the sleeves.

Step 10



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