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Moderated by EleanorSews
Posted on: 5/8/19 5:13 PM ET
I am on the very last two steps of a lesson on how to draft a sleeve for a Jacket Block, working with an instructional book. The very last instructions state: "Measure the total armhole: ease should be at least 1 1/4 inches (3 cm) but no more than 1 1/2 in (3.75 cm) larger than the total armhole measurement of the block you are using."
When I measure the armhole of the sleeve that I drafted, it equals 50.5 cm or 19 and 7/8 inches
However, when I measure the total armhole of the Jacket block, it equals 48.1 cm or 18 and 15/16 inches.
This means that the total armhole of my newly drafted sleeve is only 2.4 cm or 0.94 inches larger than the total armhole measurement of the block that I am using. I would need for the armhole of my newly drafted sleeve to be 0.79 cm or 5/16 inches larger to fall into the acceptable range of ease provided by the textbook author.
What can I do to fix this so that my sleeve falls into that range provided by the author? Is there some sort of way to increase the amount of ease in the total armhole measurement of the newly drafted sleeve?
Please keep in mind that I'm a beginner, so I'm basically terrfied of doing anything too, too complex. Please help. Thank you.
EDIT: I found the below illustrated instructions. Could I use this method to add the additional amount for ease to the sleevehead?

-- Edited on 5/8/19 at 5:17 PM --
-- Edited on 5/8/19 at 5:17 PM --
-- Edited on 5/8/19 at 5:33 PM --
-- Edited on 5/8/19 at 7:19 PM --
-- Edited on 5/8/19 at 7:21 PM --
-- Edited on 5/9/19 at 7:31 AM --
When I measure the armhole of the sleeve that I drafted, it equals 50.5 cm or 19 and 7/8 inches
However, when I measure the total armhole of the Jacket block, it equals 48.1 cm or 18 and 15/16 inches.
This means that the total armhole of my newly drafted sleeve is only 2.4 cm or 0.94 inches larger than the total armhole measurement of the block that I am using. I would need for the armhole of my newly drafted sleeve to be 0.79 cm or 5/16 inches larger to fall into the acceptable range of ease provided by the textbook author.
What can I do to fix this so that my sleeve falls into that range provided by the author? Is there some sort of way to increase the amount of ease in the total armhole measurement of the newly drafted sleeve?
Please keep in mind that I'm a beginner, so I'm basically terrfied of doing anything too, too complex. Please help. Thank you.

EDIT: I found the below illustrated instructions. Could I use this method to add the additional amount for ease to the sleevehead?

-- Edited on 5/8/19 at 5:17 PM --
-- Edited on 5/8/19 at 5:17 PM --
-- Edited on 5/8/19 at 5:33 PM --
-- Edited on 5/8/19 at 7:19 PM --
-- Edited on 5/8/19 at 7:21 PM --
-- Edited on 5/9/19 at 7:31 AM --
Posted on: 5/8/19 7:11 PM ET
Measure the sewing line of the armhole on the body. (Armscye)
Measure the sewing line of the sleeve. (Sleeve)
The sleeve generally is the bigger number. The amount of ease depends on style, and fabric.
Not sure from you description what is going on
-- Edited on 5/8/19 at 7:12 PM --
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Measure the sewing line of the sleeve. (Sleeve)
The sleeve generally is the bigger number. The amount of ease depends on style, and fabric.
Not sure from you description what is going on

-- Edited on 5/8/19 at 7:12 PM --
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http://atailormadeit.blogspot.ca/
Posted on: 5/8/19 7:19 PM ET
In reply to peaceinsewing
Yup, that will work, but it will also increase the height of the sleeve cap, which tends to cause more wrinkles as you move, instead of letting your arms hang at the sides. If you increase the cap height too much, you also get bubbles or wrinkles on the outer arm.
Another way to add length to the sleeve cap -- the part that sews to the armscye, is to simply broaden the cap without lifting the cap height... essentially taking a little curviness out of the sleeve cap. Sometimes if you do this, you need to tinker with the amount added to the front and the back sleeve cap separately, to keep the sleeve balance and not give you pouches of fabric under and just before the armpit.
I would probably do a bit of both, in the final analysis, assuming the sleeve cap height was pretty good to start with.
Sleeves are the toughest part of patternmaking, imo. You can draft and you can drape, but when you get to the fine-tuning part, there's nothing quite like boring muslin after boring muslin, tinkering till you get a good sleeve on a real person.
Another way to add length to the sleeve cap -- the part that sews to the armscye, is to simply broaden the cap without lifting the cap height... essentially taking a little curviness out of the sleeve cap. Sometimes if you do this, you need to tinker with the amount added to the front and the back sleeve cap separately, to keep the sleeve balance and not give you pouches of fabric under and just before the armpit.
I would probably do a bit of both, in the final analysis, assuming the sleeve cap height was pretty good to start with.
Sleeves are the toughest part of patternmaking, imo. You can draft and you can drape, but when you get to the fine-tuning part, there's nothing quite like boring muslin after boring muslin, tinkering till you get a good sleeve on a real person.
Posted on: 5/9/19 2:04 AM ET
And the third method, which can also be used in combination: fill in the armscye of the jacket to bring it down so the sleeve will fit.
Posted on: 5/9/19 7:32 AM ET
In reply to tailored
Sorry about that, I reread what I wrote and noticed that I miswrote a lot of it. I edited it for clarity and am trying to read through the feedback now. Thank you.
Posted on: 5/9/19 8:01 AM ET
In reply to peaceinsewing
Are you sure you need the extra ease in your sleeve? Before you start messing around any more, you could read this blog post Sleeve cap ease is bogus. This seems to be a controversial topic and, having made only a small number of jackets in my sewing life, I have no strong personal opinion about it, but the author is an experienced and knowledgeable pattern-maker so the post is definitely worth a read.
For myself, my arms are not heavy, so I would probably just leave things as is until I got to the fitting stage. Then I would decide if any more ease is needed.
-- Edited on 5/9/19 at 8:06 AM --
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For myself, my arms are not heavy, so I would probably just leave things as is until I got to the fitting stage. Then I would decide if any more ease is needed.
-- Edited on 5/9/19 at 8:06 AM --
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Posted on: 5/9/19 8:45 AM ET
That is really a very small amount of ease below what your draft asks for. I would cut the sleeve as is & try it in the armhole. That amount of ease can be made up by reshaping the curve of the sleeve cap seam. Your body may want it in either the front
or the back.
or the back.
Posted on: 5/9/19 9:16 AM ET
Is your sleeve still at the stage of having no arm shaping (e.g. like the drawing, the underarm seams are straight down and rectangular)? If so, just split the sleeve at the center of the cap down to the wrist and add a strip of width there. Having a flat region at the top of the cap is no issue at all, mark the notch at the center of the addition. This does add some width down the length of the sleeve, but you're talking less than a cm, so I wouldn't sweat it, especially if arm shaping is still to come. The illustration you found would work, too, but the angles at underarm are slightly tweaked, etc.
Posted on: 5/9/19 11:52 AM ET
Peggy Sagers has some really good tutorials about armhole ease and sleeve. Google "silhouette patterns armhole tutorial" and three pop up. She also talks about making templates of armhole ease for each garment type. This might be helpful in the step you are in. This Threads article also has a detailed article on adjusting sleeves and sleeve caps.
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Posted on: 5/12/19 8:42 AM ET
In reply to mhk
Thank you, I"d like to take your advice and make a fitting muslin first and then maybe try it on with some clothes layered underneath. I read the article, but it seems like she's saying that the ease is not necessary if I redesign the sleeve cap itself. (Though I red the article and don't see where she states how exactly to go about redesigning the sleeve cap - I only see her mention that one sleeve cap is your standard cap while the other sleeve cap is scooped out one side, and is said to be a better designed sleeve cap.) If I don't add the ease to the sleeve cap, doesn't that mean I should instead redesign the sleeve cap??
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