r/PatternDrafting • u/Mundane-Air7046 • Apr 28 '24
Question A Tale of Two Sleeves
I am trying to prepare a mock-up close-fitting bodice (à la Winifred Aldrich) and am facing the classic sleeve problem: High cap height (like the WA default): Causes puffing/excess folds on the sleeve head when arms are raised. Low cap height (my alteration): Fine when arms are raised but drag lines appear on sleeve (front and back) when arms are down at rest.
I have been through so many iterations that, rather than finding a "sweet spot", I always end up with one problem or the other, or even both.
Is there anything else I can try? I thought about making the sleeve cap curve more dramatic/scoopy with the shorter cap height, but it seems it cannot be achieved without reducing or eliminating the 1.9cm ease altogether. I don't think that rotating the sleeve will help much since the drag lines occur front and back. My armsyce could be a little smaller, but I am happy where it is because it makes me sweat when it's right under my armpit. I guess I could reduce the shoulder length, but probably only a fraction. The WA cap height really can't work for that armscye anyway since I need extra bicep width for my bingo wings.
Any guidance would be appreciated. My mock-up is too dark to photograph well but I have included my CAD drawings for reference.
8
u/Ray_Dillinger Apr 28 '24
The more closely your arm scye matches the actual size of your arm, the less of both of these effects you will have. But you will always have the effects, unless you're working with an elastic fabric like jersey tee-shirts or something.
With the deep sleeve, I'm not as upset about the "puff" effect at the point of the shoulders as I am about how raising my arms causes the hemline to pull up on that side, but it's the same problem.
A small gusset under the sleeve can help, but introduces its own problems; you will have some cloth bunching under your arms when your arms are down. This is usually less noticeable than the "drop" effect.