7.2 Sleeve Fundamentals
Now that we've done some basic pattern manipulations with our sleeve sloper, it might be interesting to dive deeper into the terminology of sleeves and to consider why they are shaped they way they are. How does manipulating the cap height change the way the sleeve fits? What happens when we lower the armhole on a bodice? How can you add or reduce ease in a sleeve cap?
Sleeves often feel like one of the most challenging and mystifying parts of a garment pattern, but understanding some of the fundamentals can help make them less daunting.
Sleeve Vocabulary:
Sleeve Cap: Curved top of the sleeve from front to back.
Cap Height: Distance from biceps to cap at center.
Biceps level: Widest part of the sleeve dividing the cap from the lower sleeve.
Sleeve Ease: Additional allowance at the biceps elbow and wrist levels accommodating the circuference of the arm and allowing ease for freedom of movement. Ease ranges from 1 1/2" to 2" or more.
Cap Ease: Difference between the cap and the armhole measurement, ranging from 1" to 1 7/8"
Elbow Level: The location of the elbow dart is level with the elbow of the arm. (Typically half way between bicep level and wrist)
Wrist Level: The bottom (hemline) of the long sleeve, level with the wrist.
Grainline: At the center of the bicep line and perpendicular, running from cap to wrist.
Quartering Sleeve: Sleeve divided vertically into four equal parts. Used as guidelines for spreading the sleeve. Quarter sections marked with X in the illustration.
Notches: One notch indicates the front sleeve, two notches indicate the back sleeve. Cap notch indicates where sleeve and shoulder meet (does vary from center grainline).
Additional Information on sleeve terminology HERE: Notes-Sleeve Terminology.pdf Download Notes-Sleeve Terminology.pdf
If you ever need to draft a sleeve to fit a specific bodice, you can follow these directions: FASH60_SleeveDraft.docx Download FASH60_SleeveDraft.docx
Cap Height:
Why is the sleeve cap shaped the way it is? This is a very interesting question, and the answer is based in the human anatomy.
The sleeve cap allows the sleeve to hang downwards out of the armhole despite it being a vertical opening on the side of the body.
The shorter the sleeve cap, the closer it is to being a simple rectangle. You can imagine a flat sleeve cap like the rectangular sleeve of a kimono. This type of sleeve works fine for the human body as long as the garment is large and loose. A flat sleeve cap gives great range of motion for the arm, but when the arm is at rest at the side of the body, there will be a lot of fabric bunched up underneath the arm. Also, the lower the sleeve cap is, the deeper the armhole must be.
As the sleeve and the garment become more fitted, the sleeve must change it's angle relative to the body. The higher the cap height is raised, the more the sleeve angles downward. As the sleeve cap goes up, the bottom of the armhole also climbs higher along the side of the body. The highest sleeve caps, generally seen in men's suits, give a very clean and tailored finish when the arm is resting down at the side. But the tradeoff for the clean finish is restriction of movement. The higher the sleeve cap, the more resistance you will encounter when raising your arm.
Increasing and Decreasing Cap height and Cap Ease:
There are three ways in which you can change the length of the sleeve cap and thereby increase or decrease the cap ease.
The first option is to raise or lower the cap height using slash and spread.
By cutting along the center grainline and the bicep line, you can spread to create more ease, or overlap to reduce cap ease.
The second option is to adjust the bicep length outward or inward.
By spreading the underarm corners further apart, you increase the length of the sleeve cap and therefore increase ease. By bringing them closer together, you decrease the sleeve cap ease.
The third option is to increase the length of the armhole to accommodate the amount of ease.
Typically this is done in when the sleeve ease is needed, but there is too much puckering or distortion of the fabric over the top of the sleeve. It is possible to add length to the armhole in two ways: One is by raising the shoulder and lengthening the armhole at the side seam. The second is to transfer some of a dart into the armhole.
Information and illustrations on this page pulled from Patternmaking for Fashion Design by Helen Joseph Armstrong
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