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Transcript:

Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Caroline: Hello, and welcome to Love to Sew. I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics.

Helen: And I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns.

Caroline: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey, too.

Helen: Join us for today’s topic: Sleeves!

Caroline: Sleeves!

Ah! Welcome back, Helen!

Helen: Welcome back! We’re so excited to be back, back, back again with another season of Love to Sew.

Caroline: Yes! We have a lot of fun episodes planned for this season, so hold onto your seam rippers, folks.

Helen: Yeah. And you know, when we’re planning, we always worry that we’re gonna run out of topics one day, and then, we start sharing our ideas and realise we actually have too many topics and we have to narrow it down. It never ceases to amaze me. There is so much to talk about when it comes to sewing.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh. I know. The possibilities are truly endless. And this year has been pretty busy at both of our businesses. We have some new projects coming down the pipeline that we’re really excited to share with you all very soon.

But because of that, we’re gonna be doing another season with just the two of us. So no guests this season, but we’re still very excited. It’s gonna be a great season.

Helen: Yes. It’s gonna be so much fun. And speaking of a busy year, I wanna hear how 2023 has been treating you, Caroline, what’s going on? What’s new?

Caroline: Okay. I have to say, January and February are my least favourite months of the year. They are always a struggle for me, and we’re in the middle of February right now, so I don’t know. I’m on the struggle bus a little bit. The short days and the rainy weather, kind of, takes a toll, but I am so excited for sunshine and longer days, and they feel like they’re just within reach, so I’m feeling really optimistic about that.

At Blackbird, we are going to be launching BF patterns, which is our new pattern line soon.

Helen: Yay! Oh, my gosh. So excited!

Caroline: You might have seen… Thank you. I know. I’m so excited, too. Might, you might have seen our new Instagram account, and we’ve, kind of, been teasing, and we’ve previewed our logo over there. It’s @BFPatterns. I’m very excited. I’m also very nervous to launch because we have seriously been working on this for, like, two years. I mean, it’s been, kind of, a side passion for a while, and we’ve revved up development over the past year, but it’s been a long time coming, so we’re hoping for an April launch. But I have learned things don’t always go as planned, so don’t hold me to it. We’ll see.

Helen: We won’t.

Caroline: But we’re really excited. We’re so, so, so close. We’re just, you know, we just wanna make sure that our patterns are really, really good. So we’re making sure that we are crossing all our t’s and dotting all our i’s, and fitting everything really well.

Helen: As you should.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: It’s a lot to organise, to start a pattern company, too. Once you get going, it’s gonna be like an unstoppable train.

Caroline: Yeah, I know. And we have so many things in the pipeline, as well, like, new designs that we are dreaming up. So we’re really, really excited. And it’s gonna feel so good when it launches. So y’all will be on that journey with us cuz it’s hopefully gonna happen this season.

Helen: Yay!

Caroline: And then other things in my world, really just wedding planning. We’re getting married in seven months, and I’m making my dress, and I’m doing a lot of the planning myself. And my brother is actually also getting married on the West Coast just a week after us. We’re calling it “weddingpalooza” ‘cause a lot of our family’s coming out for, like, a full week and a half to be able to come to both of our weddings.

And I’ll actually be taking three weeks off in September for this, which is the longest I think I’ve ever taken off work, like, in my entire adult life. So I’m so pumped for that, and I feel like a lot of this year is gonna just feel like I’m preparing for September, but I’m also trying to make the journey there fun. I’m gonna, I’m gonna have a good time. It’s gonna be a great spring and summer, lots of exciting things happening, lots of planning, but Shea and I are having a lot of fun with it, so…

Helen: And you’re gonna be making your dress, which is so exciting, and I know our listeners are gonna be wanting to hear more about that, at least after it’s finished, but also on the journey with you. And if they wanna hear about that, you can join us on Patreon cuz we talk about all this stuff all the time over there.

Caroline: Yes, we sure do. Okay, Helen, tell me what, what’s going on in Helen’s world?

Helen: Well, 2023 feels like it’s off to a great start so far. By the time this episode comes out, we actually have a new pattern in our collection, the Wildwood Jacket and Vest.

Caroline: Woo.

Helen: I’m so stoked about this design. It’s quilted, and it is really marrying my love of quilting and my love of clothing into one kind of perfect garment, and I’m just, I’m just in love, you know?

Caroline: Oh, my gosh. Yes! Your love of quilting, which started how long ago? When was the first, like, quilt you made, or first time you started learning how to quilt?

Helen: I think it’s been about two years at this point that I’ve, yeah, I’ve been getting into quilting. It started off slow, and it’s been ramping up to quite the pace.

Caroline: It was only a matter of time.

Helen: Yeah. I have such a huge appetite for quilting now, and it’s been such a fun addition to my sewing practice. So this garment pattern really is a great way for me to bring that quilting energy into the business and hopefully, get more people on board and interested in trying out quilted garments. I know they’re pretty trendy right now, so hopefully you’ve got your eye on making one, and Wildwood might be your pick. It’s a really fun design. It comes with a jack and a vest option, which I love. I’m obsessed with the vest.

Caroline: Yes! Oh, my gosh. I got to see a little preview of the photoshoot, and oh, my gosh, they look so good.

Helen: Thanks!

Caroline: I can’t wait for the world to see this pattern. It’s really cool, and there are a lot of quilted jackets out there, but this one is unique. You have some really unique details. You have a vest view. I love the pocket. I love everything about this pattern…

Helen: Aw!

Caroline: …so I’m so excited for it to be out in the world.

Helen: Me, too. Thank you. Yeah, it’s been a, it’s been a big one to tackle, and I’m so pumped that it’s finally out there, so you can go check that out on our website. And other than that, I’m really just looking forward to all things spring. Like you said, I’m over the dreary weather and the short days. Excited for things to get bright again, excited for gardening. I’m just so pumped to get back out there in the garden. So, yeah, it’s been a nice winter, but I am ready for spring and summer, and it does feel like it’s right around the corner.

And in other news, I have an exciting surprise planned, and all I will say is something new is coming your way very soon, like, in the next month. So eyes peeled.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh.

Helen: I know.

Caroline: Is this what I think it is?

Helen: Oh, our patrons know what it is.

Caroline: Okay.

Helen: But I haven’t said it publicly to…

Caroline: …on the main show.

Helen: I know! The broader sewing world, so I am very excited to launch this new project that I’ve been working on for quite some time and yeah, couldn’t be more pumped.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh. I am so excited for you. Yay! I think 2023 is gonna be a great year.

Helen: Big year. Yeah. It’s gonna be a big one. I hope our listeners feel the same way. Hopefully, y’all have really exciting things in your year, too, and feel free to tell us about them. We love hearing from you.

Caroline: Okay. Well, with the big year, I feel like we need some big sleeve energy. So should we get into our topic?

Helen: Oh, my gosh. I can’t wait. I can’t believe we haven’t done an episode on sleeves. And when I pitched this topic in our brainstorming session, I was like, simple, think, sleeves.

Caroline: And we were all like, sleeves.

Helen: Sleeves.

Caroline: Sleeves. Wow.

Helen: Just sleeves. Yeah. It sounds maybe a little on the boring side, but I think sleeves have a lot of exciting components. They can certainly look very exciting. They can look so many different ways. And when it comes to sewing, they are one of the more complex things to sew, so I think it’s gonna be a really fun discussion today all about sleeves.

Caroline: Yes, sleeves. Our favourite cosy arm tubes, elbow adornments, vehicles for wrist buttons, forearm concealers. They do it all.

Helen: They do it all. They run the gamut, and so many garments have sleeves. They’re really a basic component of our clothes. Even when garments don’t have sleeves, we’re still thinking about sleeves. A tank top is usually called sleeveless, so you really can’t get away from them.

Caroline: And there are so many styles of sleeves. Choosing a sleeve style is one of the easiest ways to customise your garment, and they’re one of the most fun parts of the pattern to play with, which we’re gonna talk about today.

Helen: But before we get into the nitty gritty of sleeve sewing and design, we wanted to share a few historical sleeve facts with you.

Caroline: Yeah, so removable sleeves for function and fashion have appeared throughout history. In late mediaeval Europe, separate sleeves that were pinned or tied on started to appear. People could remove their outer sleeves for work and roll up the linen sleeves of their roomy chemises. Then, when they went out in public, they could put on their nice clean outer sleeves.

I actually saw a lot of this when I was wedding dress shopping.

Helen: Oh, cool.

Caroline: Yeah. Wedding dress designers love a removable sleeve.

Helen: Oh. It just makes it really customizable for the person, I guess, right?

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Is it ‘cause you, like wear, it for some of the ceremony and then not for some?

Caroline: Yeah. You, like, wear the, you could, like, wear a sleeve for your ceremony, and then, you, like remove your sleeve, and you’re like, I’m ready to dance. I’m…

Helen: Yeah. I’m evening wedding now.

Caroline: I found them, kind of, awkward. Like, you would, sort of, pin them or, or button them at the shoulder or sometimes, like, in the front shoulder and back shoulder area. But then, like, the armpits were always, sort of, like, open.

Helen: Oh, yeah. That could be good though. Like, vents.

Caroline: Yeah, I know. That’s true.

Helen: I like when, like, rain jackets have those zippers under the arm so you can open them when you get sweaty.

Caroline: Oh, so cute.

Helen: Yeah. Okay, Caroline, I need your help with this French word.

Caroline: Yes, so that would be engageantes.

Helen: Engageantes were decorative removable sleeves that women wore under the wider sleeves of their bodices or dresses in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were usually white and lacey or embroidered, and this was a genius way to change up the look of a dress. It’s a lot cheaper than getting a whole new dress, which at the time would’ve been very expensive.

Caroline: Oh, so cool. I love the idea of having, like, a fancy sleeve that you can, like, put on different garments.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. Just throw it on there. Change the look.

Caroline: And the “leg-of-mutton” sleeve has come in and out of fashion since the 16th century. Also called gigot sleeves, these big puffy sleeves are gathered at the sleeve cap, then narrow down to a fitted wrist. You can find these sleeves in portraits of Queen Elizabeth I, in fashion plates from the 1830s, in adaptations of Anne of Green Gables, and then again on the runways in the 1980s. Everything comes back around again, especially in fashion. So maybe we’ll be seeing some “leg-of-mutton” sleeves…

Helen: BF Patterns!

Caroline: …soon.

Helen: Spring Collection. Leg-of-mutton sleeves.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh.

Helen: These sleeves, honestly, look very uncomfortable to me. Like, the way they narrow down the arm.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: I don’t know. I’m not into it.

Caroline: But you have so much airiness in your, like, shoulder and, like, upper arm…

Helen: Yeah, that’s true.

Caroline: …bicep-area.

Helen: Maybe, maybe they, maybe you can move quite easily in them.

Caroline: Yeah. Lots of room for those guns.

Helen: So what do I know? It’s true.

Sleeve garters are also something that has disappeared from modern clothing. These functional accessories held up men’s shirt sleeves so that the fabric didn’t pool around the cuffs. Starting in, around, the mid-19th century, ready-made shirts came with only one arm length, and that was extra long.

So men, especially working men, would wear sleeve garters to hold the fabric up and prevent the cuffs from getting soiled. You sometimes see them in old movies. I think this is such a cool little historical detail.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I love that they were like, we can’t shorten this sleeve. We’re gonna have to add garters.

Caroline: I love it.

And for many sewists, sewing, your first pair of sleeves is a rite of passage. It may even be the moment when your sewing experience turns a little bit sour.

Helen: Yeah. Pinning the sleeve cap curve into the armscye curve is hard enough, but then you have to sew it in without getting any tucks or gathers. It feels impossible the first time you do it, maybe even the first few times you do it. Swearing is definitely going to happen. I have seen tears in sewing classes, but like everything with sewing, it does get easier and better with experience.

Caroline: Yeah. And we just dropped a bunch of sewing terms, so I wanna define some of them. Sleeve cap. So this is the part of the sleeve that goes over the curve of your shoulder. On a flat pattern piece, it looks like a convex curve.

Helen: Yes. It’s a swoopy bit at the top.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: Armscye. One of my all-time favourite sewing terms. This is the part of the bodice that forms the hole that your arm is gonna go through. On the flat pattern piece, it looks like a concave curve.

Caroline: And then easing in this is when you’re setting in a sleeve, you usually need to do a bit of light gathering on the sleeve cap to put the sleeve in smoothly. This is called easing in. Sewing in the sleeve cap without making any tucks from the gathering can be tricky.

Helen: Yeah, especially if there’s a lot of fabric to be eased, and there’s varying amounts depending on the sleeve style.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: And then there’s lots of self-explanatory terms. You hear like underarm, which is under your arm, and shoulder seam, which is across your shoulder and arm hole, which is the hole where your arm goes.

Caroline: Okay, we’ve defined some of these terms, so let’s talk about types of sleeves. There are three main types of sleeves, so we’re gonna go through their pros and cons. First up is the set-in sleeve. These are the most common sleeve type. They usually have a curved armscye and a curved sleeve cap.

Helen: Pattern makers can play around with the height of the sleeve cap and the width of the shoulders to create different styles of set-in sleeves. The height of the sleeve cap is the height that’s put into the curved part of the sleeve. So a more dramatic curve has a higher sleeve cap height, and a more shallow curve has a lower sleeve cap height. So in a classic fitted sleeve, the shoulder width is minimal. The sleeve cap hits right at the joint of the shoulder bone. And for this shoulder width, the sleeve cap is a little bit higher.

Caroline: And then a dropped shoulder garment has a wide shoulder width that drops down over the edge of the shoulders. This combined with a short sleeve cap height makes a more casual look. T-shirts are usually made this way.

Helen: Yeah, if you think about a t-shirt pattern, you’ve probably worked with one. It has that dropped shoulder look, and the armscye curve is actually pretty shallow. It’s not, like, a big old scoop. It’s just, like, a light curve. And then, same goes for the top of the sleeve. It’s not, like, a whoop, like, a mountain, it’s just a little hill.

Caroline: Yeah, just a little hill.

Helen: It’s not a whoop. Set-in sleeves can be hard to sew. We were just talking about that moment in sewing where you do your first set-in sleeve and you’re like, ah, why? And this is mostly because sewing a convex curve to a concave curve is a particular skill that you have to learn in sewing, but we’re gonna give you some tips later on in this episode that do make it easier. So many sewists have learned to make beautiful set-in sleeves, and you can do it, too. It’s one of those magic moments when you’re able to put those two contrasting curves together.

Caroline: Yes, and patterns with set-in sleeves are very hackable. You can create lots of different sleeve styles from a fitted sleeve pattern by slashing and spreading different parts. Patterns with set-in sleeves are also the best patterns to hack into sleeveless garments.

I remember in college we had to do a bunch of exercises where we would take a sleeve and, like, cut it, hack it, slash it, spread it, do all kinds of different things to create different looks, and that was so fun and memorable. I encourage anyone to do that. It’s really, really exciting.

Helen: Yeah, we’re gonna talk about the potential later for hacking…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …sleeves because it really is endless, and it’s, kind of, a, like, standalone pattern piece that you can just mess with only that and leave the bodice as is. So it’s a really fun way to dabble in pattern drafting.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: Most fitting advice that you’ll see out there is for garments with set-in sleeves, so it’s a bit easier to figure out how to make adjustments with a set-in sleeve. You won’t find quite as much fitting advice for raglan sleeves or grown-on sleeves, unfortunately. It can be a little bit tricky to find.

Caroline: Mm-hmm. Okay, so speaking of grown-on sleeves, that’s the next sleeve type that we’re gonna talk about. These are cut as one piece with the bodice of the garment. These sleeves are usually loose at the shoulder area so that you can move your arms easily. And these are very straightforward and easy to sew.

Helen: Yeah, grown-on sleeves usually produce some folds under the arms. Depending on the fabric and the pattern that you use, this could look amazing and stylish, or it could look, kind of, messy and bulky. And, of course, that comes down to personal preference as well.

Grown-on sleeves are usually best paired with fabrics that don’t hold wrinkles too much because of those folds that are created, and they often look really nice with drapey-er fabrics. Though we have seen some amazing coats with grown-on sleeves, too. Sometimes that volume created in a wool can be really quite becoming, so it does come down to experimentation a lot of the time.

And it can be difficult to hack a garment with grown-on sleeves to have different sleeve styles as well, because it is attached to the bodice. It’s not a separate pattern piece like we were describing earlier.

Caroline: Yeah. I love these sleeves for, like, a quick project because often a grown-on sleeve is, is literally just, you know, you have one piece for the front of the bodice and one piece for the back of the bodice and that’s it.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: And you’re sewing that together. So it works really well with fabrics with a large scale print or something where you don’t want to interrupt that print with seamlines. And it also just comes together so quickly, which is a win in my book.

Helen: Okay, the last type of sleeve is the raglan sleeve. Raglan sleeves have a seam that runs diagonally from the neck to the underarm, and this gives them a wider underarm than set-in sleeves, which allows for more arm movement.

I often think of raglan tees as, like, baseball tees. When I think raglan, I think baseball, because they have that colour blocked nature to them. Often it’s, like, a white front with a blue sleeve or vice versa.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And so it’s really obvious. You can see those shoulder lines.

Caroline: Yeah, definitely. And these sleeves are easy to sew in, and there are usually a few wrinkles under the arms with a raglan sleeve. Not as much as grown-on sleeves, but you can usually expect a few small wrinkles.

Helen: Yeah. And if you usually measure pattern pieces to see what adjustments you might need, raglan sleeves make this a bit harder, at least for the back and shoulder adjustments. And again, there’s just not a ton of information about adjusting raglan sleeves, but they tend to fit more comfortably right out the gate because there is that little bit more room for movement and a little bit of a looser fit.

Caroline: And your Elliot sweater is a raglan sleeve, right?

Helen: Yes, it is. Yeah, and it has, like, a little bit of a scoop to it, which almost makes it like a saddle sleeve, which, yeah, there’s different, kind of, like, variations of raglan that you can have, and they all produce different looks, which I think is really cool.

Caroline: Yeah, that is very cool. Okay, here’s a fun fact. Did you know that the raglan sleeve was named after an actual person named Lord Raglan? He had the sleeve developed after he lost an arm in the Crimean War. It was designed to have greater ease of movement, especially for getting dressed.

Helen: Oh, I love that. I love the, just the concept of being like, to your personal tailor, make me a different type of sleeve, please.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: That will allow me to have more ease of movement and we shall name it after me. .

Caroline: Yeah. I, Lord Raglan.

Helen: Okay. Now that we’ve gone over the three main types of sleeves, let’s go back to set-in sleeves for a moment and talk more about that sleeve cap ease.

Caroline: First up, what is sleeve cap ease, Helen? Well, pattern makers will often make the sleeve cap slightly bigger than the armscye that it’s going to be sewn into. This is the sleeve cap ease. This adds a little bit of extra fullness around the top of the shoulder, and that way you can move your arm a little better, and it fits nicely around the flesh of the upper arm.

If there’s no ease in a sleeve, it has a bit of a tighter fit down on top of the shoulder. So that little bit of ease does make quite a difference. And if you have a lot of ease, you even get, like, a little bit of structure happening in the shoulder. It almost, like, goes out from the shoulder and then down the arm.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: So depending on the look you’re going for, the fabric that is gonna be intended to be used for the garment, pattern makers will decide how much ease to put in the sleeve cap.

Caroline: Yeah. And easing in sleeves is, kind of, a big ask because you have to fit extra fabric into the armscye without making gathers or tucks, but it can be done. So we’re gonna talk a little bit about how you can ease in a sleeve gap.

Helen: Yes. The most common method is to sew one to three lines of gathering stitches in between the notches of the sleeve cap, so that front notch and then the double notch on the back. You’re gonna gather those stitches gently, just to make the fabric curve, not to create deep folds or actual tucks and gathers. You’re wanting to create a curved shape.

It’s almost like you’re gonna transform that flat piece of fabric into something that looks like it could sit right on your shoulder. You can actually hold the pattern piece up to your shoulder to have a look and see if the shaping is working. You’re making, like, a little bonnet.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: And then you’re gonna pin the sleeve into the armscye, matching all the notches. And then you’re going to adjust the gathers so that the sleeve cap fits into the armscye, lining up the place where you’re going to be stitching, which is often about five-eighths of an inch in. So keeping that in mind when you’re redistributing your gathers.

Caroline: Yeah. And we’re saying gathers, but we’re really not going for any kind of visible gathering.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: It ends up looking quite smooth. And if you have a fabric that steams or presses really well, now could be a good time for you to use some of that steam to, sort of, shrink up the fabric, and it’ll make it so that it fits better in the armhole, and you will have less little tucks and things that you might have to fix later.

If the sleeve cap has very little ease built into the pattern, you may be able to ease it in without even using gathering stitches. Blueprints for Sewing has a tutorial for this. You pin the sleeve cap into the armscye at each of the three notches. Then, you divide the ease evenly by pinning at the halfway points between the notches and then again between those pins.

And when you sew, you’re gently stretching the fabric perpendicular to the seam so that it smooths out. And the fabric will have a bit of stretch because of the curves of the armscye and the sleeve cap; these go across the bias of the fabric. If you’re gonna try this method though, make sure not to stay stitch because that will make even gentle stretching impossible.

Helen: Yeah. Sometimes the stay stitching that you do to stabilise areas while you’re constructing the rest of the garment can be cumbersome when you go to do your sleeve easing in. And I’ve even been in situations where I actually unpick my stay stitching or just take out every 10th stitch or so so that I have some give because it’s, like, too tight, and I’m having trouble getting the stay stitching and the easing to, like, come together properly.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: To get a smooth sleeve cap, hand basting is your friend. It gives you so much control over the easing process, and you can double check that everything looks good before you put in your final machine stitches. When you take it to the machine, things can go awry.

Again, you’re having these two opposite curves that you’re trying to put together, and then you’ve got this, like, shaped sleeve from your gathering, and you’ve got all these stitches everywhere, and it’s very confusing and things slip out of place. So taking a moment to do just, like, a hand basting stitch in between those notches really doesn’t take a lot of time, and it sets you up for success.

Caroline: Yeah, totally worth the time that it takes here.

Helen: I don’t believe you, Caroline. Have you never done it?

Caroline: tI, if it’s like something that I really don’t want to have to sew twice…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: Yes. Fair.

Caroline: Especially if it’s dicey and you’re like, ooh, this is gonna be tough to ease in without basting…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …then I’ll do it.

Helen: Or like really beautiful fabric that you’re like, I do not wanna have to, like, take a seam ripper to this delicate…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …silk voile.

Caroline: Totally. And some sewists swear by letting your feed dogs do the work. So when you’re sewing the seam, you would put the sleeve cap side down against the feed dogs, and they’re gonna help you ease in without any tucks. This is because the feed dog’s movement prevents the fabric from getting smushed and folded the way it might if the gathered part was facing up.

And I think this would work best without a walking foot because a walking foot is gonna, kind of, like, counteract that. But yes, I’ve definitely done it this way before. Once I realised, like, oh, you can ease things in by putting that, like, slightly longer piece next to the feed dogs, it’s, kind of, magical when it works.

Helen: Yeah, it is really fun, and it definitely can get the job done. Personally, I like to put the gathered side up because I like to see…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …whether or not I’m creating tucks, so I think it’s, kind of, six of one and whatever works for you.

Caroline: That’s true. Yeah, always just do what works for you.

Helen: Yeah, and it’s important to remember that you can always fix a little tuck or gather, so don’t panic if things don’t go according to plan. Even if you see a tuck form, you don’t need to immediately stop sewing your seam and undo and go back. I mean, you can if you want, but I typically just let that tuck be, finish my seam, and then I will go back and fix it.

I mean, Caroline and I sew all the time, and we still get tucks in our sleeve caps from time to time. It just happens. So if you do wanna fix it, you can simply grab your seam, ripper, unpick one to two inches around where that tuck is formed, and then take it back to your machine and sew that little area again, smoothing it out as much as you can. You can also just leave the tuck in there. If it’s a busy print, you might never see it.

Caroline: That’s so true. Honestly, like, more often than, I’ll get like a little tuck here or there…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …and have to fix it. And sometimes it’s, like, less work to just, like, go in and, like, fix a little tuck than it is to, like, baste the whole thing.

Helen: Get it right the first time?

Caroline: Yeah, exactly. So…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …power through. You got this.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: The traditional way to sew a set-in sleeve is to sew the shoulder seam and the side seam of the bodice first, and then sew the seam along the underarm of the sleeve. So this makes an armhole and a closed sleeve. Then, you do your easing and pin the sleeve into the armscye right sides together.

Helen: Yeah. You’re, like, attaching the two loops together, but this isn’t your only option. You can also sew your sleeves in flat, and this means that the only thing you sew before you add the sleeve is the bodice shoulder seam. Then, you do your easing on the sleeve cap. You pin it into the armscye. Many sewists find this easier to handle than finangiling with that tube and that armhole opening. And when you’ve sewn that up, you just simply sew up the side of the bodice and down the underarm of the sleeve in one long seam. You’ve probably done this already if you’ve sewn t-shirts. This is typically the construction method for basic tees, and it is faster. I really enjoy doing this construction method for knit garments especially.

Caroline: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Helen, have you ever done the, like, tube method where you’re putting, like, a fully constructed sleeve into the armhole and then sewing it in, and then after sewing it, realise that the sleeve is inside out?

Helen: Oh, yes. I can up that though, because one time I did all of that and the sleeve was fully upside down, like, and I put on the bodice, so my arm had to be up in the air because I didn’t mark my notches, and I was being very cavalier and just like, oh, this, this circle goes with this circle and whatever. And yeah.

Caroline: Oh, my gosh. That totally is a one up. I, I was just thinking about, like, I, it’s happened to me many times where…

Helen: Oh, yeah.

Caroline: …you look at it and you’re like, yes, this is the right side, is facing the right way, and yes, I can see my seam allowance, so it must be good. And then you, like, put it in, sew it in, and then turn it out, and you’re like, no!

Helen: You’ve got a decorative exterior seam in your shoulder.

Caroline: Yeah, and, like, the only thing more annoying than sewing a sleeve in this method is having to do it twice. So…

Helen: Yeah, it’s truly annoying. Another vote for basting…

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: …because when you base it first, then you have a moment to check. This has happened to me many, many times. I think, because there’s so many things going on when you sew in a sleeve.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: So many things to think about that it’s easy to make that little mistake.

Caroline: Yeah, exactly.

Helen: Oh, man.

Caroline: Okay. But back to sewing your sleeves in flat really quick. One of the drawbacks of sewing your sleeves this way is that it can add bulk to the underarm seam, and that can be, kind of, uncomfortable, especially if you’re doing this in a woven application, a woven fabric application.

So there is a third way of sewing in sleeves that gives you the ease of sewing sleeves in flat without the underarm bulk. So in this method, you sew the sleeve cap to the armscye flat, but you leave two inches on each end of the seam. Then, you sew up the side seam and the underarm seam separately and finish them however you want. And then, finally, you’re gonna tuck the sleeve into the armhole and sew those last two inches as if it were a set-in sleeve.

This is so genius. Thank you to Blueprints for Sewing for teaching us that method. And we’re gonna link the article in the show notes, but it’s, kind of, the best of both worlds.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Slightly less confusing, a little bit easier to ease in ‘cause you’re doing it flat and then you don’t get that bulk in the underarm.

Helen: Yeah. And less room for that mistake we were just talking about where you get the wrong sides together.

Caroline: Oh. Yeah.

Helen: Okay. We have a few more just general tips for sleeve sewing success. First of all, we already mentioned make sure to mark those notches because otherwise your sleeve could end up upside down like me.

Caroline: Upside down, inside out, backwards.

Helen: Yeah. Yeah. They do also help you from putting your sleeves in backwards, which can happen. Front and back of a sleeve are usually slightly different because they’re matching with the front armscye curve that goes around the front of your body versus the back armscye curve which goes on the back of your body.

And those areas are shaped differently, so the front and back of the sleeve is different. So if you don’t mark your notches, what can happen is you get confused about which sleeve is which, and you might end up with a slightly odd fitting sleeve. It’s probably still gonna be wearable. You might not notice depending on the pattern style, but the sleeve notches are one of the more important notches.

I always say, like, it’s fine if you don’t wanna cut notches. I get it. It’s fine. But, you have to do the sleeve ones. I draw the line.

So traditionally, there’s one notch at the front of the sleeve, two notches at the back of the sleeve, and there’s usually one notch near the sleeve cap. And these notches actually let you know how exactly to ease it in, how much easing you’re gonna be doing and where to put your easing stitches. So that’s another reason not to ignore them.

Caroline: Yeah. And this top notch at the sleeve cap, it’s often where the shoulder seam, kind of, meets the sleeve cap, but not always. So for example, on your Cameron Button Up, Helen, the back yoke is designed to sit slightly forward onto the front. So the top notch aligns with a notch on the back yoke. So that’s one thing to pay attention to and a reason to also notch your armscye…

Helen: Yes, it’s true.

Caroline: …or any of the pieces around the armhole because it’s not always going to line up with the shoulder seam perfectly.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. You wanna watch out for those moments because, yeah, it marks the top of the shoulder which is not necessarily always where the shoulder seam is.

Caroline: Exactly. Okay. So the first sewing step is sometimes to construct your sleeve. Not all sleeves are just one pattern piece. Often, more tailored pieces like coats and blazers have two piece sleeves, and this is allowing the pattern drafter the ability to add more shaping so the sleeve can be designed to follow the natural curve of your relaxed arm. Sometimes there are even little darts in the elbows of sleeves, which is so cool. I love seeing different sleeve constructions and details and seam lines, and there’s some really creative patterns out there.

Helen: Yeah, there really are. And if you’re looking for a good coat pattern that has, like, a fitted set in sleeve, look for one with a two piece sleeve because it will be more comfortable. When you relax your arms at your side, they’re not, like, pinned straight perfect.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Right. They, kind of, sit at a bit of an angle.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: So that’s what that seam is helping to create. And sleeves can have seams in other places, too. A really cool example of this is the Closet Core Sienna Maker Jacket. This one has a horizontal seam on the upper arm that creates a really cool place for a small pocket and a button detail.

It’s a work wear style coat, so this works really well, but you can easily add horizontal seams to sleeves to create opportunities for colour blocking or mixing fabrics. Simply, kind of, cut and add seam allowance, and you’re good to go.

Caroline: And when you pin the sleeve cap to the armscye, it can be helpful to pin along the seam line, not the edges of the pieces. Adding seam allowance to convex and concave curves makes the edge of the convex curve longer than the edge of the concave curve, which is shorter. It’s gonna save you a lot of headache if you pin along the seam line, taking tiny bites out of the fabric with each pin.

Helen: Another tip we have is to pre-press your sleeve hems before you sew your underarm seam. It sucks trying to fit your iron into such a small little tube so you can do it flat beforehand. And then when you go to sew your sleeve hem, it’s a breeze.

Caroline: Yes, and finishing sleeve seams without a surge can be hard, but it is possible to do French seams or even flat felled seams if you can cram them under your machine. Otherwise, a serged finish or a zigzag finish is easiest.

Helen: I’ve done flat felled seams on our Cameron Button Up, and it is funny to, like, try and finagle it through the machine ‘cause you start off at the wide end and you’re like, it’s all going fine. And by the time you get to the narrow end, you’re, like, just eeking it in there. Like, literally, like, trying to sew into this, like, bundle of fabric, but it can be done.

Caroline: You lived to tell the tale.

Helen: I lived to tell the tale. And our final tip is to get yourself a sleeve roll for ironing those small sleeve tubes. You basically stick it inside your sleeve, and then you can iron on the sleeve roll so you’re not pressing creases into either side of your sleeve when you’re trying to press your seams. Total game changer. And if you don’t have one, a rolled up towel works really well for this, too.

Caroline: Yeah, there’s even, like, little tiny ironing boards that are meant just for ironing sleeves. I have one of those…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …which I don’t break out very often, but it feels very fun when you, when you can pull out this tiny, skinny ironing board.

Helen: Love a specialty tool.

Caroline: Yeah. Okay. In terms of fitting, there are a few general areas that you wanna assess. We’re gonna describe some adjustments here and tell you how to check if you need them, but we aren’t gonna walk you through each step of each adjustment because that’s no fun to listen to. So for tutorials, check out the show notes on our website. We’re gonna link up some really good ones.

Helen: Yeah, so the first thing you wanna look at is the fit of the shoulder, and that is more of an assessment of the bodice. The seam line on the armscye of a fitted garment is gonna hit at the shoulder joint, at the bone of your shoulder, so you’ll need to press into your shoulder to find this point.

And if you need to adjust the shoulder width on your bodice, look for either a narrow shoulder adjustment or a wide shoulder adjustment. And this is usually done on the upper part of the armscye and the shoulder seam. It’s quite a simple adjustment to make, so if you’re finding that your shoulder seams are typically sitting closer to your neck than they should be or falling off your shoulders, this is definitely one that you’re gonna wanna add to your arsenal. It’s a good one.

Caroline: And a well-fitting armhole doesn’t gape below the underarm. It also isn’t tight and uncomfortable. If you find that your armholes have these problems, you can add or subtract depth from your armhole. This adjustment slashes a horizontal line across the sleeve cap and across the bodice above the bust, and then you spread or overlap the pieces.

Helen: Yeah, I really like this adjustment too because people have different preferences on how much skin they want showing under their arm, and that can depend on what, kind of, undergarments you prefer to wear as well. So it’s really easy to adjust this area to suit your personal preferences.

You can, of course, add or subtract sleeve length as well. It’s a bit more complicated than just adding or taking off length at the very end of the sleeve. If you have a simple sleeve with very little shaping, you could probably get away with just throwing some length onto the end or cutting some length off the end.

But if your sleeve has any shaping to it, it’s a good idea to slash along those lengthen/shorten lines, so you’re not gonna affect the sleeve hem or the cuff attachment seam, if there is one. You can also add a lengthen/shorten line if your pattern doesn’t have one. Just put it somewhere in the middle of the sleeve, and then you’re gonna cut that open and spread or overlap the pieces. Redraw your cut lines, kind of, true up those angles, and then you’re good to go.

Caroline: And you might need a bicep adjustment if your sleeves are too tight or loose over your upper arms. With this adjustment, you slash the sleeve piece into four quarters, and then you spread them or overlap them to get the right fit.

Helen: Yeah, this is another really great one. And you can also mess with the seam allowance on the sleeve. You could shape that seam allowance. You can taper it more or less to get a custom fit for your arms and your fit preferences.

Caroline: Yeah, just remember that you always need a little bit of ease in your sleeves, especially on woven garments. It might feel good when your arms are down, but when you, kind of, move and fold your elbows and act like you’re driving a car or reaching for something.

Helen: Holding a phone.

Caroline: Yeah. Kind of, similar to when you’re testing out a shoulder fit, you wanna test out that movement in your arms before you make any final decisions on the fit of your sleeve.

Helen: Yeah, fitting with sleeves is a little bit complicated because the bodice is involved in a lot of these adjustments.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: So what feels like a sleeve fit issue might actually be a bodice fit issue. For example, you lift your arms out in front of you, and the sleeve is digging into your bicep, and it feels really tight. You could make a full bicep adjustment and get more room, but what might be a better choice would be to make a broad back adjustment…

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: …so that when you lift your arms forward, there’s more fabric across your back, and then you don’t feel that restriction. So make sure you’re assessing both of those pieces, the bodice and the sleeve, when you’re thinking about fit here.

Caroline: Yeah, definitely. Okay, so let’s talk about fabric. Choosing fabric for your sleeves is a make or break moment for your final garment. You wanna be thinking about the effect you want your sleeves to have. Puffy sleeves and other statement sleeves often need a fabric with volume and body. Woven fabrics that have volume and body include poplin, mid-weight linen, polyester, organza, and silk taffeta. If you make a statement sleeve with too drapey of a fabric, it might turn out looking, kind of, like a deflated balloon.

Helen: Yes. This is true. Dropped sleeves and grown-on sleeves usually look best with a drapey fabric like Tencel twill or rayon challis or knits. If your fabric is too stiff, the shoulders of the garment will stick out from the body and make it look like you’re wearing a really intense, like, shoulder pad situation…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …under your shirt. And this can be a cool look, like, if you like the way that sleeves look when they’re kinda sticking out from your arms. It can look really modern and cool. So it’s not a, you know, a never do it situation. But if that’s not the look you’re going for, it can be disappointing when you finish the garment. So maybe look for a more drapey fabric.

Caroline: Yeah. You’ll also see, like, kind of, bunching and the fabric, sort of, doing weird things in the underarm if you use something that’s not too drapey.

Helen: Yeah, exactly.

Caroline: And if you feel nervous about picking the right fabric, go with one of the suggested fabrics on the pattern envelope or webpage. If you like the way a sleeve looks on a particular sample, it’s often gonna be listed on the website, what fabric that’s made out of.

And you can also look at the pattern hashtags on Instagram. Many sewists include the details of the fabric they used in the comments, and this is a great way to find search terms for online fabric shopping.

Helen: Totally. Okay. I wanna take a moment to talk about different styles of sleeves. We talked about the main, kind of, three camps, but there are so many particular, uniquely designed sleeves out there. And some examples include, like, giant peasant sleeves that are gathered at the sleeve cap, and then the cuff.

Caroline: Slim fitted sleeves with elbow darts.

Helen: There are flutter sleeves that flare out from the shoulder and give that beautiful movement all across the upper arm.

Caroline: You’ll also find classic shirt sleeves with plackets and buttoned cuffs.

Helen: Bell sleeves that are fitted at the top and then flare out towards the wrist.

Caroline: Cap sleeves that are only a couple of inches long.

Helen: And there are so many more. There’s bishop sleeves, cape sleeves, batwing sleeves, petal sleeves, butterfly sleeves, Juliet sleeves, poet sleeves, and, of course, the leg of mutton sleeve.

Caroline: Personal fave. Personal fave.

Helen: Personal fave.

Caroline: We could go on though. There are so many styles, most of which are not actually very common these days. So if you ever wanna look up different sleeve styles, just Google it, and it’s a fun thing to look up.

Helen: It is so fun, especially if you can find a resource, and maybe Lisa can link one up for us in our show notes that has this, where it shows the picture of the sleeve and then the picture of the pattern piece that would make that sleeve.

Caroline: Oh, yeah.

Helen: So interesting to see.

Caroline: Yeah, definitely. Okay. Do you have a favourite sleeve style or, like, a most worn sleeve style, Helen?

Helen: Well, I do love a statement sleeve, and I am totally here for the pouffy and rufflely cottage core aesthetic . But one sleeve I wanted to mention that I’ve always found so appealing and I’ve never actually tried is a lantern sleeve. This one flares out at the bottom, kind of, like a bell sleeve, but then it’s immediately brought back into the wrist using a separate pattern piece.

It’s almost like a, a circle with a hole in it, and that attaches to the bell sleeve, so you get a look that looks like a lantern. And I just think it is so pretty. And as I’m saying this, I’m thinking, I really do need to try this.

Caroline: I agree. I think that the lantern sleeve is so pretty, and you have to make something with a lantern sleeve so that I can try it on.

Helen: I should make a pattern. I feel like it’s a good sleeve for, like, a winter dress situation.

Caroline: Yeah. Yes.

Helen: With all that being said, my, I do love a dramatic, beautiful statement sleeve. But my most worn sleeve type is just a dropped shoulder sleeve that you find on most t-shirts. I wear our Jackson Tee pattern almost every day.

My everyday lifestyle is very casual, working from home, so I wear a lot of dropped shoulders, and I also wear sleeveless a lot. I’m a big fan of sleeveless tops, so throughout the summer, you pretty much will never see me wearing a sleeve.

Caroline: But we’re still thinking about sleeves ‘cause…

Helen: It’s true.

Caroline: … they’re sleeveless.

Helen: They’re sleeveless. They are lacking in sleeves.

Caroline: Yeah, we’re totally on the same page there. I think we have similar style. And for me, like, the grown-on or drop shoulder sleeve is the most common in my wardrobe. I’m thinking of all of my, kind of, like, boxy tees. Some of them have cuffs, some of them don’t.

And I also definitely gravitate towards the puffy peasant sleeves. I wear a lot of peasanty dresses and ruffly dresses and things like that. Lots of hacks that I’ve, sort of, added ruffles onto sleeves.

And I wear a lot of button up shirts as well. I wanted to give an honourable mention to a shirt sleeve ‘cause, I love a button up. Although I do dislike sewing plackets ‘cause I often just end up rolling up my sleeves and you don’t get to see all of that beautiful detail…

Helen: That’s true.

Caroline: …and all the work that went into it. But yeah, a shirt sleeve definitely makes an appearance in my wardrobe.

Helen: And I mean, if you’re never really gonna wear the shirt unrolled, you can just, like, leave off the cuff…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …and the placket and do a straight hem and then just roll her up and nobody will be none the wiser.

Caroline: Totally.

Helen: Okay. As we just mentioned, we both love a statement sleeve. I know it’s not for everybody and that’s totally fine, but with statement sleeves, you can go about as voluminous as you could possibly imagine, or you can do a much more subtle statement and just have a little bit of pouffer ruffle.

We’ve seen some pretty outrageous sleeves on fashion runways, in particular. This is a great place to look for sleeve inspiration. The shoulder is really the perfect place to make a statement, if runways have taught me anything. Looking at you, RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Caroline: Yes! Love a dramatic sleeve! But playing with sleeve style is so much fun, and it’s pretty easy to do. If you have a sleeve shirt that fits you well, you can take that sleeve and make all sorts of changes to it and try out different looks without changing the shape of the bodice. It’s a great way to play with pattern drafting, and it’s actually pretty simple.

Helen: Yeah, in a lot of cases, you’re gonna slash the sleeve pattern vertically, into say, four to six pieces, and then you spread them wherever you want the volume. So, for example, to make a classic puffed sleeve with volume at the sleeve cap and the hem, you take a sleeve pattern, you slash it into those four pieces. You spread the pieces apart evenly.

The further you spread them apart, the puffier the sleeve will be because you’ll have to add more gathers to get it back to the shape it needs to be. And then you’re gonna wanna add some length to your sleeve cap and also a little bit to the hem so that there’s enough fabric for the sleeve to puff out from your shoulder as well. We want width and a bit of height.

Also, if you’re going for really puffy sleeves, you could take off a bit of width at the armscye of your bodice piece if you like. You’re still gonna have really great range of movement because you have all that fabric in your sleeve, and it will make your sleeves puff up even more if you do this. So that’s something to consider as well.

Caroline: Yeah, and when you’re sewing this up, you will gather up all of that excess into the arm side and cuff to create that shoulder and wrist poof. So it’s really a simple construction and you’re actually not worrying about easing in the sleeve ‘cause you have all those gathers anyway.

Helen: Yeah. In this case, you might need to add some kind of cuff because those gathers at the hem of the sleeve need somewhere to go.

Caroline: For sure.

Helen: You’re not just gonna, like, turn them under twice and topstitch.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: You’ll have to add a little cuff, or you could add like a channel to put some elastic in instead of doing gathers. So there’s options.

Caroline: Yes, definitely. There’s a few people that I follow on Instagram, I’m thinking specifically of Natalie Ebaugh, who when she was working on one of her patterns, shared her process of deciding, like, how gathered she wanted her sleeve to be. So she tried all these different versions of like, okay, this is, like, two times or three times or four times gathered, which is, that’s, like, how much volume you’re adding basically.

Helen: Mm-hmm.

Caroline: And…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …it’s so crazy, like, the different fabrics, how that will affect the poof of the sleeve, how much gathering. And if you have time on your hands and you like experimenting, this is a really fun way to just, kind of, like, get some creative energy out and experiment with drafting and sewing gathers and puffy sleeves. It’s just all good things.

Helen: Yeah, so fun. There is a fabulous post at The Shapes of Fabric, we’re gonna link that up in the show notes, that actually illustrates seven ways to slash and spread sleeve patterns to get different results. So this is a great way to visualise how you can add volume to your sleeves in lots of different ways.

Caroline: Another great resource is the Pattern Magic books by Tomoko Nakamichi. She does some truly incredible sleeve manipulation. So if you can get your hands on one of those books, check it out.

Helen: So, so cool. You can also learn how to add a sleeve to a sleeveless bodice or remove a sleeve and make a garment sleeveless. The basic idea of removing sleeves is that sleeved garments have a longer shoulder seam and a bit of a deeper armscye than sleeveless garments, so you can move your arms around well.

When you take off the sleeves, you no longer need that extra ease because your arm is free and easy. So you may want to reduce the width of the shoulder seam and then bring up that armscye curve so you’re, kind of, tightening things up and bringing it in towards your neck so that you get the look that you’re going for.

And this is pretty easy to just experiment with on your muslin or even on your garment. You can trim off here and there to, like, get the right placement before you do your finishing, like your arm binding. And you may also want to increase the angle of the shoulder seam for that more fitted look as well. Like, you might wanna taper it down so it follows the angle of your shoulder.

We actually have a tutorial on the Helen’s Closet blog for a sleeveless Gilbert Top hack that shows how to make all of these adjustments, and you can apply that to any sleeve, to any set-in sleeve pattern.

Caroline: Mm-hmm. And adding sleeves is more complicated, but it’s still doable, especially if you have a pattern with sleeves that you like. Basically, you make a template of the armscye of the pattern you like and lay it over the bodice of the sleeveless pattern to trace the new armscye. The article “A New Way to Fit Sleeves” by Judith Newcomb in Threads has some great pictures of this method, as well as some information about drafting your own couture-level, fitted sleeves.

Helen: Yeah, the next level is totally, like, drafting your own sleeve, which is really an interesting process as well. But I love the idea of the quick and dirty, basically, like, pattern mashup. You’re taking the bodice from this pattern and the sleeve and matching armscye from another pattern and making your own little pattern baby.

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: I wanna talk briefly about some of the details that you’ll find on sleeves ‘cause there’s a lot of fun things. Sleeve plackets are a classic way to finish a fitted sleeve. They give you room to put your hand through the sleeve and then close that cuff. They’re also very elegant and classy.

Like a welt pocket or a fly, they have a lot of steps, one of which is cutting a slit into your fabric, which is a little intimidating, but just follow the steps one by one, and you will do just fine. And like we said, if you are rolling your sleeves up, it doesn’t even matter if it’s perfect, you can just get through it, and nobody will see it anyway.

And if you’re really nervous, I strongly recommend trying out a placket on a small scrap of fabric first. It’s a really small sewing technique, so you can just grab a couple little scraps and give it a go. Um, and another tip I have is to find a video tutorial or a detailed photo tutorial for sewing a sleeve placket. It’s a great supplement for your pattern instructions.

Or you can just buy our Cameron Button Up because the placket instructions are incredible.

Caroline: Yes, do that.

Cuffs are another common feature on shirts. So classic shirt cuffs close with buttons or cuff links, and they’re interfaced well and fitted to the wrists. Elastic cuffs are comfy and less formal. They’re usually made from elastic threaded through a narrow channel. Using a wider elastic for cuffs is an unexpected and cool detail. And then gathered sleeves are often finished with bands of bias binding.

Helen: Tabs are a more sporty detail that can also be really functional. They can be used to hold up your rolled sleeves, or they can just be put on for looks. Do you remember when pretty much all button up shirts had tabs on them? Like, in the two thousands?

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Like, you could not buy a button up shirt without a tab on it.

Caroline: I know. Yeah.

Helen: You don’t see them as much anymore, but maybe they’ll come back around.

Caroline: They’ll probably come back. Yeah.

Okay. Pockets on your sleeves. We know you want them. We already mentioned the Sienna Maker Jacket by Closet Core. This would also be a cool hack for any utility jacket. Even sewing a patch pocket on your sleeve could be a really fun and cute detail. So don’t discount pockets on sleeves. I feel like they’re, I don’t know, stick a credit card in there. Pair of keys, right? Pair of keys.

Helen: But then what happens when you raise your arms?

Caroline: It needs to close.

Helen: Yeah, it’s true. I do like on, like, more athletic wear when there’s that little tiny zipper pocket…

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: …on the arm for the..

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …the ski pass or the credit card or the…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …the key for when you go for your run. I think that’s, that’s smart.

Elbow patches are another fun detail that can suit so many different styles. You can sew canvas rectangles over the elbows of your chore jacket to reinforce them. You can sew leather patches over the elbows of your tweed blazer for an English countryside look. Or you can sew some wacky, colourful embroidered patches over the elbows of your worn out denim shirt. It’s all good. You can pretty much put whatever you want on your elbows. You heard it here first.

Caroline: And finally, shoulder frills are such a cute way to add pzazz to a sleeve. You can make a wide circular frill, gather it, and sandwich it between your f-, sleeve caps and armscye. I’ve seen shoulder frills on puffer jackets lately, which is such a cool detail, but you can add this to pretty much any kind of garment and it really adds, really adds something.

Helen: Yeah. We had a guest blogger do a whole blog post about adding shoulder frills to the Jackson Tee and just adding a, like…

Caroline: So cute.

Helen: …frill in that shoulder seam. So cute.

Caroline: I love that look.

Helen: I really feel like we could do a whole season on sleeves alone. Honestly, this has got me very excited.

Caroline: Yes, Helen. We could do a whole episode about the leg of mutton sleeve alone.

Helen: That’s true. I have so many questions.

Caroline: Oh, we had a ton to cover today, and I think we, at least, touched on most of the sleeve basics. If any of our listeners out there have any sleeve sewing tips, we love to hear them. We always love to hear from you all.

Helen: Yes. And one more thing, we have a really fun sewing challenge for you. Given that this is our first episode of the season, we thought it’d be fun to do a little community event, and we’re calling it #LoveToSewSleeves.

Caroline: Yes. You can sew embellish, draft, or manipulate a sleeve and share it with us on social media by using the #LoveToSewSleeves.

Helen: We can’t wait to see what you do. For example, you could add a trim or embellishment to your sleeves or alter the sleeves of a garment that you already have.

Caroline: Yeah, you can mend a sleeve. You can draft a sleeve. You can hack a sleeve pattern to try a new type of sleeve. Or you can simply just sew a sleeve.

Helen: Yeah, we would love to see it. Please tag us and use that #LoveToSewSleeves.

Caroline: And this is your chance: try to sew a sleeve you’ve always wanted to try or tackle a sleeve sewing technique that you’re nervous about or take something off the mending pile. We’re so excited to see your sleeves. Please do share.

And that’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew Sleeves, I mean Love to Sew. You can find me Caroline at BlackbirdFabrics.com and Helen at HelensClosetPatterns.com. And we’re recording today in rainy British Columbia, Canada.

Helen: You can Go to LoveToSewPodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures and resources from this episode. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, you can leave us a message at 1-844-SEW-WHAT. That’s 1-844-739-9428. Or send us an email at hello@LoveToSewPodcast.com.

Caroline: If you love Love To Sew, and want more, you can sign up for our Patreon. For $5 a month, you get a full length bonus episode and weekly behind the scenes pictures. And for $10 a month you get all that plus a mini episode focused on sewing techniques and 15% off codes for Helen’s Closet and Blackbird Fabrics that you can use again and again. Patreon is the best way to support us so that we can keep making quality sewing content. Go to patreon.com/LoveToSew for more info.

Helen: Thanks to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant. Jordan Moore of The Pod Cabin is our editor. And Margaret Wakelee is our transcriber. And thank you so much for listening and coming back for another season of Love to Sew. We’ll talk to you next week.

Caroline: Bye.

Helen: Bye.

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