In order to be able to ‘perfect’ my first shirt pattern (Vogue 7639) , I’ve had to take a deep breath and tackle one of the scariest things in pattern making - sleeves!!!

In the past, I’ve gotten the impression that the perfect sleeve is a mythical ideal that can only ever be arrived at with the application of some form of magic. This impression has not been helped by the fact that the set in sleeves on my woven garments have always felt uncomfortable and restricted my movement. In fact, I actually thought sleeves on woven garments could only ever feel that way. My solution, for the past several years, has been to put the same loose sleeve on everything. However, I was assured that this is not necessary and that a wearable sleeve is indeed possible.

So … I’ve spent the last few weeks on my quest for a well-fitted sleeve that gives me the maximum amount of movement.

I’ve learned that there is actually no magic involved in getting a good sleeve. Instead, it requires a lot of time, patience and perseverance. A few weeks may sound like an excessive amount of time to work on a sleeve (full time) but I understand that it is not uncommon for this process to take quite a bit of trial and error, as well as several rounds of muslin fittings, to get a perfect fit. There are no shortcuts! You just have to commit yourself to the process, keep working towards your goal and hope that you don’t go down too many deadends. I have created a Sorting Sleeves tutorial that encapsulates everything I learned, and the steps taken, to get a well-fitting sleeve.

Now that I am on the other side I can also tell you that the effort is worth it. I cannot believe how much better these sleeves are than the ones that I was previously using. Not only do I have an incredible range of movement but they also look so much better!