Especially In today’s world not only the garment is vary in designs and styles the sleeves too have the different styles and thus vary in their construction,which are great in look and also in easy method of construction.There are different types of sleeves.For example, There are different styles of sleeves they may have finished armhole, sleeveless look, or it may have sleeves,some of them are cap sleeve,puff sleeve,bell sleeve,leg of mutton sleeve,raglan sleeve. The Set in or Raglan sleeves has been constructed separately and attached to the garment.

Still another possibility is KIMONO sleeves which is a cut as extensions of the main bodice.Set-in sleeves are the most widely used type. As the name indicates ,this sleeve is actually set into the armhole edge.They can be of either slightly rounded or fully gathered, the length long or short, the bottom tapered, flared or gathered. shoulder cap ideally they should fall in a smooth curve from the shoulder edge with no lumpiness or wrinkling.To achieve this, the sleeve cap curve must be carefully pointed into the armscye.

A Sleeves that which is fit well are in good-looking and also feels comfortable. The circumference of the basic sleeve should be loose enough so that it does not bind nor has folds horizontally around the arm. A tight sleeve of the arm makes the movement becomes uncomfortable.

There are Two major classifications of sleeves:

1. Set in sleeve – a sleeve sewn into a shoulder seam or armhole as opposed to neck seam.
2. Raglan Sleeve – Where sleeve is part of the entire bodice

Here we are going to see How some basic sleeves Changes silhouette.

Cap sleeve:

The sleeve extending only a short distance from the shoulder and tapering to nothing under the seam.CLICK HERE to check CAP SLEEVE construction and sewing instruction.

Puff Sleeve:

The puff sleeve is a sleeve that gathered at top and cuff and full in the middle

Bell sleeve:

Bell sleeves have a smooth cap and an unconfined hemline flaring out in the shape of a bell. The bell sleeves end anywhere from the elbow to the wrist .

Leg-of-Mutton Sleeve:

The sleeve which is full and loose in upper part of arm that perfect fit on the forearm and wrist.

Raglan sleeve:

The raglan sleeve is denotes the sleeves that continue in one piece up to the neck of the garment without a shoulder seam.

If you want to know about other types of sleeves CLICK HERE.

 Then you are going to learn about sleeve’s detailed draft and sewing methods in our following tutorials. Puff sleeve is our next one…

This is third part of shirt sewing tutorials… Here we are going to see shirt collar-cuff sewing instructions elaborately as well as simply. If any one new to this tutorial, please check previous 4 tutorials to better understanding of shirt details… Please refer previous tutorials as below…

1. How to Draft Shirt Bodies Pattern?
2. Sleeve, Collar and Cuff Pattern?
3. How to Sew a Shirt? – (Part-1) – Bodies and Pocket attaching.
4. How to Stitch a Shirt? – (Part-2) – Sleeve, yoke and slit making.

Side Joining and Hem Finish:

1. Join the Side seams with 0.25” seam allowance. Start form sleeve and end with hemline. Repeat again for other side.
2. Finish the hem by folding 0.25” and again fold 0.50” then giving an edge stitch.

Notes: *Here we saw sides seam allowance 0.25” if need you can make it up to 0.75”. *For hemline you can reduce it as 0.50” instead of 0.75”. If the hem sewing allowances 0.50” finish the hem by folding twice at 0.25” and giving an edge stitch.

Cuff Joining to Sleeve:

1. Here we are going to attach cuff to sleeve in an easy way… the cuff looks like a pouch, we have to fold its seam allowances 0.25” inside and press.
2. Now insert the raw edge of sleeve into the cuff, all the seam allowance of sleeve should be inside of cuff. Then secure with pin and sew the folded edges of cuff with all the thickness.

Repeat the above steps for another sleeve.

Collar Making:

We have 2 fabric pieces and 1 piece of interlining material for each collar and collar stand. (Interlining for collar stand is optional)

1. Place interlining material in wrong side of one collar piece and press. Then pin collar pieces by right sides facing together and sew along the three sides mentioned in the image with 0.25” seam allowance from edge.
2. Cut seams of upper corners to avoid bulk inside the collar flap points.
3. Turn right side out and press.
4. If you are using interlining for collar stand place interlining material in wrong side of one collar stand piece and press. Then place upwards down one collar stand piece over the collar’s raw edge line and another one collar stand piece at under the collar like sandwich(refer image) by facing right sides together and pin. Now sew along the red line mentioned in image.
5. Cut notches at curved seams then turn right sides out and press.

Note: If collar flap points disturbs while sewing collar stand with collar, just fold that two flaps inside and pin.

Attaching Collar to Shirt:

1. Place one side of collar stand’s right side over the wrong side of neckline and sew away 0.25” from edge.
2. Now flip it to the right side and fold the seam allowance 0.25” inside the collar stand and cover all the seams of neckline and finish with top edge stitch at folded collar stand.

Finishing Touches:

1. Edge stitching gives a well-finished look to outfit, but only if it is straight and flat.  Long stitches of 4-5 mm appearance best in edge stitching.  Sew edge stitching only after you have ironed the seam.
2. Make button holes in buttonhole placket, cuff and collar stand. (Collar flap point buttonholes are optional)
3. Sew buttons on button stand, cuff and collar.
4. Press carefully. Now our Shirt is ready…

Note: Here we learnt shirt sewing and drafting in my own way, but there is some other ways also.

I hope it’s enough to learn and make your own designed shirt.

Catch you all with another tutorial…

Here is the second part of shirt stitching tutorial… we are going to see more instructions elaborately as well as simply. If any one new to this tutorial, please check previous 3 tutorials to better understanding of shirt details… Please refer previous tutorials as below…

1. 1. Measurements and Front / Back bodies Drafting

1. 1. Sleeve / Cuff / Collar drafting

1. Shirt Stitching Tutorial – Part-1

Now move to our continuation…

Shirt’s Front & Back joining:

1. First place front and back pieces facing right side together.
2. Open the yoke pieces like a greeting card. Pin shoulder portion of one of the yoke pieces with Shirt’s front.
3. Now start to role from the bottom of front & back pieces together.
4. Make a tight role towards the end of yoke attached line.
5. Then flip the other yoke piece to the opposite side to join the shoulder area which already pinned. Now the front shoulder is in the middle of two yoke pieces shoulder secure with more pins and sew along ¼” away from edges.
6. Remove the pins and turn out the shirt front & back through the neckline.

Press then give top stitch.

Sleeve slit finishing:

1. First we are going to do the under slit of sleeves. Take rectangle piece of fabric with mentioned measurements given in image. Cut slantwise (mentioned in image as purple line) at the top corners to fold the three sides seam allowances of 0.15”. Press after fold. Then fold again that piece into half and press.
2. Now attach that piece into sleeve’s under slit (folded fabric piece should cover the slit like catchy clip) by top stitch.
3. Now time to make diamond placket for upper slit. Cut diamond placket piece (refer image for measurement) and make a slantwise cut as mentioned in image to fold seam allowance 0.15” at the diamond portion.
4. Fold all sides seam allowances 0.15” (refer image) and press then fold diamond placket piece into half and press again.
5. Place diamond placket into the upper slit and secure with edge stitch. That diamond portion around stitches secure the slit end and under slit also.

Note: *For ease take seam allowance 0.25” instead of 0.15”. Be alert while cut pieces with these measurement changes. *Use pins to secure placket pieces with slit. *Don’t hesitate to press for each folds, press makes that fabric even stiff that’s help to fix perfectly in place.

Sleeve attaching:

1. This is the stage to attach sleeves at the armholes.
2. Place sleeve and shirt piece at armhole right side facing right side together and sew 0.25” seam allowance away from edges.

Making Cuffs:

1. We have two pieces of fabric and 1 piece of interlining for each cuff.
2. Now Press interlining with the wrong side of one cuff piece. Then sew along the three sides as mentioned in image. Ensure the sewing line follows the curve at the distance from the edge for the seam allowance.
3. Cut notches in the seam allowances at curved area to reduce the bulk of the seam. We need to do this so that the fabric can be turned to the right side. Turn right side out and press.

Instruction takes too long… We are going to finish shirt with our next tutorial.

Hello everyone… Now we are going to start sew shirt. Before that I missed something to share with you all. We already learn to draft and cut the fabric using draft please refer below,

1. 1. Men’s Shirt Drafting

1. Shirt Sleeve – Cuff – Collar Drafting

But we missed to learn some details about shirt designs. There are lots to share; I explain that elaborately in a separate tutorial. Now we are going to see some basic and important points only.

• Choose your fabric pattern among strips, checked, plain, etc. to fix your shirt design. Now a days mostly designer shirt very popular among youngsters. Pattern changing is advanced level, but you can design your own with this pattern draft also like changing color or fabric print or pattern for collar, pocket, button stand or buttonhole placket, cuff, yoke and hem lines by matching the main fabric.
• Beginners should leave extra seam allowance for ease sewing.
• Sew slowly and press the folds before top stitch and cut interlining in perfect size.
• First finish the small and easy parts one by one. Make your own order with notes to finish without any mess.
• Use over lock stitch for inside seams.

Ok… That’s enough for now… we are ready to start sew shirt each part with separate detailed images… I hope these images are helpful to you all.

Sewing instructions:

Buttonhole placket:

1. First we are going to start with left CF button hole placket. Place the interlining material(1” width) at the wrong side ¼” away from cutting edge and fold that ¼” towards interlining at the wrong side and press.
2. Fold again the 1” with interlining at the wrong side and top stitch.
3. Now mark for buttonhole, the first buttonhole is 2.75″ down from the top edge of buttonhole placket and each additional buttonhole is 3.5″ down from the buttonhole mark above it.
4. Sew buttonholes with your buttonhole foot. Now buttonhole placket ready.

Note: We can also do the above 3 & 4 steps at finishing stage.

Button Stand:

1. Next right CF button stand. Fold ¼” at wrong side from cutting edge and press.
2. Again fold ¾” at the wrong side and top stitch.
3. Repeat the step 3 of buttonhole placket to make mark for buttons.
4. Sew buttons.

Note: We can also do the above 3 & 4 steps at finishing stage.

Pocket:

1. Fold ¼” fold again ½” seam allowances inwards and topstitch pocket mouth.
2. Fold ¼” all other 3 sides and press.

Pocket should be placed 2” away from second buttonhole and 7½” to 8” below from the neckline shoulder corner raw edge.Place to pin the pocket at right side of left front piece (refer picture) then sew with edge stitching it simultaneously.

Back piece:

1. Now we are going to sew back piece pleats. First point out the center at top and mark 1”away from the two sides of center point.
2. Make two ½” pleats. Refer above image.

Attaching Yoke:

1. Take 2 yoke pieces and center pleated back piece.
2. Place 2 yoke pieces facing right side together and insert back piece in middle of two yoke pieces (like sandwich). Then sew along ¼” away from the edges marked in image.
3. Now turn the yoke pieces to the right side and press.

Rest of the sewing instruction details in our next tutorial…

Construction details:

Sleeves:

0-1   = 1/6^th armhole circumference

0-2   = sleeve length (shoulder to wrist)

1-3   =½ armhole circumference

Connect 0-3 and divide that line into 3 equal parts then mark that as 0’ & 3’ as shown in draft picture.

A is 3/8” above from 0’

B is ¼” below from 3’

Shape front armhole by joining 0-a-b-3

C is ¾” above from 0’

D is 3/8” above from 3’

Shape back armhole by joining 0-c-d-3

2-2’      = ¼”

2’-4      = ½ wrist around +2½” or 2/3^rd of 1-3

Join 4-2 & 4-3

5 is midpoint of 3-4. Join 5-3 with inside curve line.

Join 4-2 ¼” inside curve for sleeve’s front side only.

6 is midpoint of 4’-2 and make 6” cuff opening for sleeve’s front side only.

Cuff:

7-8 & 9-10       = 2½”

8-9 & 7-10      = ½ wrist around + ¾”

Give curved edge in 10.

Collar construction:

0-1 & 2-3       = 3”

0-4 & 3-5       = 1¾”

0-3 & 1-2       = ½ neck around measurement

6 is midpoint of 0-3 and 6’ is midpoint of 4-5

3’ is 1½” above from 3. Join 6-3’

x is 1½” from 5 and x’ is ¼” below from x. join x’-3’

7 is marked 1½” away from 2 and 2’ ¼” above from 2.

Now join 7-2’-x’-6’ with curved lines (refer Draft)

Cutting line: 0-6-3’-x-x’-6’- 4 for collar. 0-4 on fold

1-7-2’-x’-6’-4 for collar stand. 4-1 on fold

You can use this same draft for single piece collar also, but here we are going to do this as two piece collar i.e., Collar and collar stand.

Pocket:

Need a simple rectangular piece of 4 ¼” x 6” (this includes seam allowance).

Cutting instructions:

• Now we are going to cut our fabric with the help of drafts. First thing we have to press our fabric so that draft lays there perfectly without any wrinkle. I think it’s one of the most important steps.
• First place fabric fold in half with selvages together without any shrink. Above image is only for your reference about seam allowances for each draft pieces, which is not for draft placing instruction. You can place wherever, but remember the fold lines.
• Place draft perfectly and secured with pin or weight then mark on fabric with your fabric marker. Make sure about seam allowances all around mentioned in draft details image.
• Place Shirt’s back piece fold line 1” away from fabric fold line for Back pleats (refer image) and mark.
• All drafts are marked now. So remove drafts from fabric. Again secure the fabric with pin or weight for cutting purpose.
• Cut the marked fabric. We’ll also need to cut our interlining for collar, collar stand, and cuff and buttonhole placket. For button stand and pocket mouth interlinings are optional.
• We are going to cut interlining for Collar, Collar stand and cuff by using draft. For buttonhole placket need 1” strip interlining is enough.

Now we are ready to sew our shirt. Sewing instruction with images is in our next tutorial….within few days…

A shirt is a sort of top,  a piece of clothing for the trunk of the body.

In the UK, it refers almost exclusively to what Americans call a dress shirt, a garment with a collar and a full vertical opening with buttons. In the US is tends to have a vaguer meaning, being applied to many types of (mainly men’s) tops. leaving the word “top” generally for ladies wear. Click here to know more about men’s formal shirt.

You will need the Following Things Before we start:

• Basic sewing needs
• 1.5 to 2 meters of a suitable fabric
• Interfacing canvas fabric for collar
• Buttons

Next fabric selection… most of us choose Natural Fabrics like cotton, Corduroy, Denim, Flannel, Hemp, Leather, Linen, Seersucker, Silk, Terrycloth and Velvet. Some of us choose different types of Synthetic Fabrics like Acetate, Acrylic, Nylon, Polar Fleece, Polyester, Rayon and Spandex.

Required measurement for Men’s shirt Drafting – bodice:

Back shirt length-

Chest-

Shoulder-

Neck to chest-

Shoulder to chest-

If you want to know the standard measurement details for men..Click here.

Men’s Shirt bodice draft details:

0-1 = Back length

0-2 = Neck to chest

0-3 = Yoke height = 2 ½”

0-4 = 1/6^th of Neck round + _5/8”

4-5 = 1/8^th of Neck round

0-6 = ½ shoulder

6-7 = ¾” Connect 5-7

3-8 = 0-6 Shape 8-7

8-9 = ¼” down Shape 3-9

2-10 = 3-8

2-11 = ½” chest + 2¾”

11-12 = 2-10

12-13 = 1_5/8” above

14 is midpoint of 2-11

1-15 = 2-11

16 is midpoint of 1-15. Connect 14-16

Point 2” above from 16 as 17

18 is midpoint of 14-17

18’ & 18” is 1” away from 18

17’ & 17” is ¾” away from 17

Connect 17’-18’-14 and 17”-18”-14

1’ is midpoint of 1-16 and 15’ is midpoint of 15-16

Shape 1-1’-17” and 15-15’-17’ as shown in draft.

11-19 = Shoulder to Chest

19-20 = 1/6 Neck round – ¼”

19-21 = 1/6 Neck round

Draw horizontal reference line from 3-8 to the right about halfway to line 19-15

Draw vertical line from 12 (this should cross 13) to meet the above reference line and mark that meet point as 22.

Measure 5-7 then less 1/8” from that measurement. Pivot your ruler around on point 20 until it intersects with the vertical line 12-22 at the measurement you just found. Mark this meeting point as 23. Connect 20-23.

Shape armhole 9-14 and take extra inside ½” between (13-23) at front armhole.

(21-24) & (15-25) = 1¾” for button and buttonhole stand. Connect 15-25-24-21

Mark ¼” up from point 24 and shape as shown in draft.

Now the shirt bodice draft is ready…

Tracing Pattern From Draft:

Yoke Piece: 0-5-7-8-3

Shirt Back: 3-9-14-18”-17”-1’-1

Shirt Front: 25-24-21-20-23-13-14-18’-17’-15’-15-25

First cut the draft and mark this draft to the fabric with seam allowance of ¼” all around the cutting lines except hemlines. Give ¾” seam allowance for hem line. (Hem lines are 1-1’-17” & 25-15-15’-17’)

Now u have to cut 1 piece of Front right, front left, back and 2 pieces of Yoke.

Note:  *Some people prefer to place fusible interfacing in the buttonhole placket too. If you like that, cut out a rectangular strip that is as wide and just as long as your buttonhole placket.

Collar, Sleeve, Cuff and Sewing Instructions are in our next Tutorials….