This is the best tutorial on UA-cam for drafting sleeves! I have been through countless tutorials. Please try this drafting it's 100% accurate. Thank you Curator.
Hi.. so glad to come across your channel. I am learning drafting my own pattern from youtube. I got problems on the sleeve. I tried your method. I got 1.3cm ease for the back sleeve pattern but for the front sleeve, no ease, just exactly the same length as the front armhole length. I tried to adjust it but could not adjust. So I just cut and saw it. I turned out good. I am satisfied with the results. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thank you. I was having a huge problem drafting a sleeve for my pattern I made with Winifred Aldrich pattern book. This helped with the ease in the sleeve cap. Thank you
I have been so stressed figuring out how to do this 😭😭😭 but your video (even a year after you’ve posted) is still the best explanation I’ve seen 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽
Enjoyed your tutorial as another way to tackle a sleeve pattern. It is easy to remember too and wonderful to see how you can correct the curves slightly to achieve the ease you need. The method I learned was a quarter-fold one as well -- the difference being the cap was also folded in half (from top of cap to bicep line) to create an intersection line with the quarter-folds. Then you apply a few other measurements to make guidelines to draw in your curves (with a french curve). I think I can integrate your method with my existing one as yours also provides the pitch points that determine good placement for the notch markings. Thank you so much for sharing this!
Oh, I'm so chuffed that I uploaded it at the right time for you Susan! Let me know how it turns out, and of course, if you have any questions, do let me know! ❤️
this is the most helpful tutorial! i love to see the connection between the sleeve and the bodice pattern. will review it in depth to try it out. thank you!
@@TheCreativeCurator Sure did! I've always had a big problem since I lost the slim body of younger age! I love your tutorials. Am getting back to sewing, something which I really love. And I am doing my own patterns now - I would need only slight modifications, if any, on trying them on.
Wow! Thank you very much for this. You've really explained very many questions I've had that I couldn't find the answers to. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thanks so much for this video - it is excellent! I think what did it for me was the last segment when you tried on the well fitting sleeve and suggested how to add in more ease for the upper cap portion ti improve the fit. This is exactly the type of help I needed! Bless you!
Hi Eve, Thank you for this video and also your written blog. I'm not sure if it's in the video, but if it is, I missed any reference to adding ease for the sleeve block (bicep) width. This resulted in my first draft being too narrow, with the top curve measuring about 5cm less than desired total of armscye + 2.5cm - eek! I wondered if anyone else had this issue, (or did I miss it ?) Fortunately I saw in your blog to "grab your top arm amount ... and add 5 cm to it" to determine the sleeve block width. I also notice the method for crown depth calculation is different in the video and blog, but I decided to keep the calculation from the video since I had already done it, then using the new block width (with 5cm ease), I recalculated the quarter markings, and re-drew the curves accordingly. When I re-drafted the width line with the 5cm ease included, the finished measurement of the top curve now perfectly matches the desired length (ie armscye +2.5cm). It's looking good, so I really hope it fits when I make the toile. Thanks again.
This is a fantastic video, thank you. At the end you said you thought you’d need a little extra room and you were going to cut across and down. Can you explain how you’re going to do this? Thanks again.
Hi. do you have written instructions for drafting a sleeve to fit any armhole? The sleeve sloper is for a specific bodice and I am adjusting a shop bought pattern. Thanks very much
Thank you!!!! Iv been searching for this everywhere but couldn’t find a tutorial! I’m drafting my first dress I have the bodice done the skirt done, but was really struggling with the arm! At one point I lay out the bodice patter together and drew then arm hole measured my arm drew it out cut it tried the paper over my arm an it wouldn’t fit past my bicep lol 😂😂
Hey thanks for the helpful video, I'm coming across a problem and simply can not figure out why I'm getting so much ease. I have a feeling its because of my bicep measurement being quite wide that it's creating to much ease in the sleeve pattern. my armhole measurement is 51cm but my sleeve came up originally 59.5cm, I have since managed to get this down to 54.3cm. My question is when the centre of the quarters are halved and turned into the curve of the sleeve head by measuring out/in, can the depth of those 0.5cm / 1.5cm / 2cm / 1cm be altered to create less ease or will this throw the balance out? I hope this makes sense haha, I've made 3 to 4 sleeves now so I'm all confused. thanks again, marcus
Hi Marcus, sorry I just saw this comment when replying to someone else's! You can absolutely play around with the measurements to get closer to your bodice armsyce measurement - just be mindful not to make the line straight, there should be curves similar to the body. And you can always create a 'cap sleeve' style sleeve toile to check the fit too. Depending on your fabric you could have between 0.5cm and 4cm of ease, so it's all modifiable. :)
This was great, thank you! The only part that is unclear to me is how you determined how much to bump out/scoop prior to drawing your curve. I see that you've chosen .5 and 1cm on the back, but where did these measurements come from? I just copied your numbers, of course :)
This is so helpful, thank you! I've always shied away from drafting my own sleeve pattern, it was too intimidating a project for me - and your tutorial has made it more approachable. Question - why can't you just copy the armholes of an existing bodice pattern to create a matching sleeve? I know it doesn't work, but I don't quite understand why.
I think if you look at more than one pattern, particularly from different pattern companies or even a sample garment, you will find the position of the shoulder seam and underarm seams and the shapes of both the back and front armholes all different. They wouldn't fit the pattern you're drafting and making adjustments to the bodice and/or sleeve may be frustrating. Better to use a pattern drafter's suggestion by using your drafted bodice pattern and your arm girth. This is the first time I've found someone to explain how to create a sleeve pattern that matches to a drafted bodice armhole.
hi, great vid. but, all of a sudden there is an additional line at the center top. this appears after you do the measuring around thing. what is that all about. thanks.
Trying so hard to understand this, as I’m trying to draft a sleeve fitting a sewingpattern I’ve adjusted. I have narrowed the shoulderseam so the sleeve wont come to far out on my shoulder. This video was so helpfull, but trying to understand. When you divided the total lenght by 3 and added 1,5 ease, why do you divide it by 3? And if the back armhole is different lenght then the front armhole, you still do it this way?
Hi Ida. So, first up, an ease amount is added to the total armhole measurement because otherwise your sleeve will fit in exactly and will look flat and shapeless. 1.5cm is a standard baseline amount of ease that is added to give a nice shape, but you could add more or a little less. As an example, shirt sleeves which are sewn on the flat and not in the round have much less ease. The back and front armholes often measure differently - as did mine in this video - so yes, you still do it this way. Finally, the only division of 3 that I made in this tutorial was to find the underarm line, so no ease was added to that measurement, but one third of the total armhole generally works out to be about the same amount as the shoulder point down to where the underarm line would be on the outer arm. Hope that makes sense! :)
@@warwickshirewolfpack the pattern that i have learnt to work with we add 6cm of ease to the bicep width, but i have no idea if it works with this pattern
Hi there! Apologies, this is only showing up now! The amount of ease I add to the bicep varies based upon which garment type the sleeve is intended for! A fitted sleeve will use less ease, and sleeve for a coat or jacket would need significantly more!
Hi, a question before I attempt this, I am trying to replicate a shirt that I like cause of the fit and design, I have traced out the back and front bodice pattern but am having trouble tracing the pattern of the sleeves. Would this tutorial help me to draft a pattern to fit the bodice pattern that I have drafted out? I have the measurements taken for the sleeves of the shirt..
I haven't tested this on a drop shoulder pattern. But, I would say yes, just make sure that the sleeve clap is 'flatter / less rounded' as that is already taken up by the dropped shoulder part of the bodice. If you happy to wait, I can probably knock up a tutorial later on in June?
I drafted this sleeve. It looks very good. Should ease allowance be added to the upper arm measurement before constructing the bicep line? If so, how much? Thanks
Im at bout 10 cm more i think im doing sum wrong:/ i take the bicep length of a piece im copyn the pattern please help🙏 sittin there since 2 days not gettin How 2 do it
You have two options. The first would be to make the armhole bigger so that the sleeve head is bigger, which would naturally add width to the sleeve. The success of this method would depend on the garment type you're making, it would work for a jacket or coat, but may be too much volume on a shirt or dress. The second would be to make the sleeve pattern as shown here and then do a bicep fullness adjustment - think of it as an FBA for your arm! - to get the extra fabric in.
Q: could you give us a written version of the directions? I couldn't hear you clearly on some of the measurements. For example, I think you said the horizontal line at the base of the underarm was a third of something but I couldn't hear what.
I did run through the measurements, perhaps put the video on a slower speed setting? I have a habit of speaking too fast when I'm excited about things, and pattern making gets me very excited!😎
I’ve put in my measurements four times now and followed your instructions (making notes, going back and forth on the video to triple check that I was doing the math and measuring correctly) and I never, never come out with an armscye measurement at the end that is anywhere near (like it’s 10cm or thereabouts LESS) my armscye measurement. Sorry, but I didn’t find this useful. If you know why this happens (I even got my math genius hubby to check I was doing it right) then please let me know!!
I'm sorry, your comment doesn't make the following clear: Are you referring to the armscye on the drafted sleeve pattern being less that the armscye of the bodice pattern *or* do you mean the armscye of the bodice pattern is less than the armscye of the drafted sleeve? If you let me know, I can give you my thoughts.
Every time I need to draft a sleeve for a pattern I’ve created I refer back to this video!
Gabriella, your comment has made my day. Thank you so much for sharing it with me and appreciating the work in creating the video. 😘
This is the best tutorial on UA-cam for drafting sleeves! I have been through countless tutorials. Please try this drafting it's 100% accurate.
Thank you Curator.
Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback! ❤️
You're the first explanation I've found on how to do this. Thank you. You have very good control of a pencil/pen in drafting.
Thank you - years of practice! 😉And I am so glad to know that you found this pattern drafting video helpful. 😍
Thank you for your excellent explanation. It's exactly what I needed!
Lovely to hear - any questions, ask away! 😘
Hi.. so glad to come across your channel. I am learning drafting my own pattern from youtube. I got problems on the sleeve.
I tried your method. I got 1.3cm ease for the back sleeve pattern but for the front sleeve, no ease, just exactly the same length as the front armhole length. I tried to adjust it but could not adjust. So I just cut and saw it. I turned out good. I am satisfied with the results. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thank you. I was having a huge problem drafting a sleeve for my pattern I made with Winifred Aldrich pattern book. This helped with the ease in the sleeve cap. Thank you
You're very welcome, happy to have been able to help! 😍
Great video. Well done. Thanks for the education.
Glad to hear you found it helpful Jeff, thanks for watching!
I have been so stressed figuring out how to do this 😭😭😭 but your video (even a year after you’ve posted) is still the best explanation I’ve seen 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽
This is the perfect comment to log in and see! Thanks so much Sam! 😘
Enjoyed your tutorial as another way to tackle a sleeve pattern. It is easy to remember too and wonderful to see how you can correct the curves slightly to achieve the ease you need. The method I learned was a quarter-fold one as well -- the difference being the cap was also folded in half (from top of cap to bicep line) to create an intersection line with the quarter-folds. Then you apply a few other measurements to make guidelines to draw in your curves (with a french curve). I think I can integrate your method with my existing one as yours also provides the pitch points that determine good placement for the notch markings. Thank you so much for sharing this!
Hi Dianne! I'm so happy that this method works for you! I would love to hear how it works out integrated with the previous method you were using! 😘
This was a very well explained video my sleeves were perfect...thanks
Yay, I'm so chuffed that it was able to help you draft a sleeve pattern! Thank you for letting me know! 😍
Eve, this is what I have not attempted, thanks for that
Hi Linda! You're very welcome - hope it works as well for you s it has for me and others! 😘
Thank you! ❤ wonderful tutorial !
Thank you so much! 😘
Would love some more information regarding fit and concepts to keep in mind when considering fit etc.
Great ideas, thank you! I've added to my video ideas notebook!
You explaination is on point. I really diidnt understand the sleeves and now i do. THANKS
Oh, reading this has made my day! Thanks so much for such a lovely comment - I am so happy to know that it now makes sense for you!
Thank you! This is such a helpful tutorial for me, and right when I need to do a sleeve ❤
Oh, I'm so chuffed that I uploaded it at the right time for you Susan! Let me know how it turns out, and of course, if you have any questions, do let me know! ❤️
This was SO HELPFUL! Thank you so much!
Really chuffed it helped you Helen! 😘
this is the most helpful tutorial! i love to see the connection between the sleeve and the bodice pattern. will review it in depth to try it out. thank you!
Ah Kim, you’re very welcome! Have fun! 😍
Thanks to this tutorial I constructed a well fitting sleeve.
Oh I'm so chuffed this worked well for you Marie! 🥰
@@TheCreativeCurator Sure did! I've always had a big problem since I lost the slim body of younger age! I love your tutorials. Am getting back to sewing, something which I really love. And I am doing my own patterns now - I would need only slight modifications, if any, on trying them on.
I followed the process and it came out perfectly!I wish I could share a picture.
Did you get any wrinkles in it?
Just what I needed - many thanks!
You're very welcome!
Wow! Thank you very much for this. You've really explained very many questions I've had that I couldn't find the answers to. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
You’re very welcome Grace! If there are other pattern making tutorials you need help with, let me know! 😘
@@TheCreativeCurator Thank you. I love your news letters and tutorials 😍
Thanks so much for this video - it is excellent! I think what did it for me was the last segment when you tried on the well fitting sleeve and suggested how to add in more ease for the upper cap portion ti improve the fit. This is exactly the type of help I needed! Bless you!
So glad it was helpful to you Sue! 😘
Brilliant!
Thanks Liz! 😍
Thank you so much for this tutorial!
You're welcome, I'm glad that you found helpful!
Hi Eve, Thank you for this video and also your written blog. I'm not sure if it's in the video, but if it is, I missed any reference to adding ease for the sleeve block (bicep) width. This resulted in my first draft being too narrow, with the top curve measuring about 5cm less than desired total of armscye + 2.5cm - eek! I wondered if anyone else had this issue, (or did I miss it ?)
Fortunately I saw in your blog to "grab your top arm amount ... and add 5 cm to it" to determine the sleeve block width.
I also notice the method for crown depth calculation is different in the video and blog, but I decided to keep the calculation from the video since I had already done it, then using the new block width (with 5cm ease), I recalculated the quarter markings, and re-drew the curves accordingly. When I re-drafted the width line with the 5cm ease included, the finished measurement of the top curve now perfectly matches the desired length (ie armscye +2.5cm).
It's looking good, so I really hope it fits when I make the toile.
Thanks again.
Thank you. Very helpful x
You're welcome Eileen, glad it was helpful! X :)
Ooh I really understand thank you .
Glad that this helped!
super helpful !
Thanks for the feedback Pat! :)
This is a fantastic video, thank you. At the end you said you thought you’d need a little extra room and you were going to cut across and down. Can you explain how you’re going to do this? Thanks again.
Can you do one with a two piece sleeve?
Oh, that's a great idea! I'll add it to the list - expecting to post more videos in 2024, this year has been crazy with another project! 😎
Hi! May I please request a tutorial on how to transform puff sleeves to just normal sleeves such as this one on your tutorial?
Hi Penelope! Sorry for not seeing this until now! I've added to my list and will get that filmed in one of the first batches in December!
thank u I got it !!!
Glad it helped!
Hi, do you have suggestions for doing a basic bodice pattern without darts? Thxs
Hi. do you have written instructions for drafting a sleeve to fit any armhole? The sleeve sloper is for a specific bodice and I am adjusting a shop bought pattern. Thanks very much
Que buen trazo sobre diseño, muchas gracias 😊
You're welcome!
Thank you!!!! Iv been searching for this everywhere but couldn’t find a tutorial! I’m drafting my first dress I have the bodice done the skirt done, but was really struggling with the arm! At one point I lay out the bodice patter together and drew then arm hole measured my arm drew it out cut it tried the paper over my arm an it wouldn’t fit past my bicep lol 😂😂
Ah, you're very welcome Natalia! Let me know how you get on and if you have any questions!
@@TheCreativeCurator aww thank you 😊😊
Hey thanks for the helpful video, I'm coming across a problem and simply can not figure out why I'm getting so much ease. I have a feeling its because of my bicep measurement being quite wide that it's creating to much ease in the sleeve pattern. my armhole measurement is 51cm but my sleeve came up originally 59.5cm, I have since managed to get this down to 54.3cm. My question is when the centre of the quarters are halved and turned into the curve of the sleeve head by measuring out/in, can the depth of those 0.5cm / 1.5cm / 2cm / 1cm be altered to create less ease or will this throw the balance out? I hope this makes sense haha, I've made 3 to 4 sleeves now so I'm all confused.
thanks again,
marcus
Hi Marcus, sorry I just saw this comment when replying to someone else's! You can absolutely play around with the measurements to get closer to your bodice armsyce measurement - just be mindful not to make the line straight, there should be curves similar to the body. And you can always create a 'cap sleeve' style sleeve toile to check the fit too. Depending on your fabric you could have between 0.5cm and 4cm of ease, so it's all modifiable. :)
This was great, thank you! The only part that is unclear to me is how you determined how much to bump out/scoop prior to drawing your curve. I see that you've chosen .5 and 1cm on the back, but where did these measurements come from? I just copied your numbers, of course :)
This is so helpful, thank you! I've always shied away from drafting my own sleeve pattern, it was too intimidating a project for me - and your tutorial has made it more approachable. Question - why can't you just copy the armholes of an existing bodice pattern to create a matching sleeve? I know it doesn't work, but I don't quite understand why.
I think if you look at more than one pattern, particularly from different pattern companies or even a sample garment, you will find the position of the shoulder seam and underarm seams and the shapes of both the back and front armholes all different. They wouldn't fit the pattern you're drafting and making adjustments to the bodice and/or sleeve may be frustrating. Better to use a pattern drafter's suggestion by using your drafted bodice pattern and your arm girth. This is the first time I've found someone to explain how to create a sleeve pattern that matches to a drafted bodice armhole.
hi, great vid. but, all of a sudden there is an additional line at the center top. this appears after you do the measuring around thing. what is that all about. thanks.
Trying so hard to understand this, as I’m trying to draft a sleeve fitting a sewingpattern I’ve adjusted. I have narrowed the shoulderseam so the sleeve wont come to far out on my shoulder. This video was so helpfull, but trying to understand. When you divided the total lenght by 3 and added 1,5 ease, why do you divide it by 3? And if the back armhole is different lenght then the front armhole, you still do it this way?
Hi Ida. So, first up, an ease amount is added to the total armhole measurement because otherwise your sleeve will fit in exactly and will look flat and shapeless. 1.5cm is a standard baseline amount of ease that is added to give a nice shape, but you could add more or a little less. As an example, shirt sleeves which are sewn on the flat and not in the round have much less ease.
The back and front armholes often measure differently - as did mine in this video - so yes, you still do it this way.
Finally, the only division of 3 that I made in this tutorial was to find the underarm line, so no ease was added to that measurement, but one third of the total armhole generally works out to be about the same amount as the shoulder point down to where the underarm line would be on the outer arm. Hope that makes sense! :)
Please how much ease have you added to the bicep
Did you find the answer to this, I can't find out anywhere how much bicep ease
@@warwickshirewolfpack the pattern that i have learnt to work with we add 6cm of ease to the bicep width, but i have no idea if it works with this pattern
@@asma10shoot45 thank you, I'll try that
Hi there! Apologies, this is only showing up now! The amount of ease I add to the bicep varies based upon which garment type the sleeve is intended for! A fitted sleeve will use less ease, and sleeve for a coat or jacket would need significantly more!
Will this technique work if my back armscye is much longer than my front?
Hi, a question before I attempt this, I am trying to replicate a shirt that I like cause of the fit and design, I have traced out the back and front bodice pattern but am having trouble tracing the pattern of the sleeves. Would this tutorial help me to draft a pattern to fit the bodice pattern that I have drafted out? I have the measurements taken for the sleeves of the shirt..
Would this work for a drop shoulder pattern?
I haven't tested this on a drop shoulder pattern. But, I would say yes, just make sure that the sleeve clap is 'flatter / less rounded' as that is already taken up by the dropped shoulder part of the bodice. If you happy to wait, I can probably knock up a tutorial later on in June?
This is such an easy way to make a sleeve pattern - will you be giving it a go?
I'm most certainly going to give it a go, but in Seamly2D 😂
@@gracedeman4884 ha ha, enjoy it! 😆
@@TheCreativeCurator Done & dusted. It works beautifully. Thank you very much!
@@gracedeman4884 yay, you’re very welcome! Enjoy!
I drafted this sleeve. It looks very good. Should ease allowance be added to the upper arm measurement before constructing the bicep line? If so, how much? Thanks
How do I make the curve match the curve fit into the curve of an existing armhole? I followed everything you did, but the sleeve still doesn't fit.
Hi Lauren, how odd that it isn't working! Feel free to take a photo of your pattern and email it to me, I'll take a look over the next week!
Im at bout 10 cm more i think im doing sum wrong:/ i take the bicep length of a piece im copyn the pattern please help🙏 sittin there since 2 days not gettin How 2 do it
Sorry, I see that you got it though!
Looool, I was 10cm short. Just did some cut and adjustments, but still need to do a mock up before I can confirm its correct 😅😅
Sometimes the widest part of the biceps is much bigger than armhole. How to solve this problems????
You have two options. The first would be to make the armhole bigger so that the sleeve head is bigger, which would naturally add width to the sleeve. The success of this method would depend on the garment type you're making, it would work for a jacket or coat, but may be too much volume on a shirt or dress. The second would be to make the sleeve pattern as shown here and then do a bicep fullness adjustment - think of it as an FBA for your arm! - to get the extra fabric in.
💪
Thank you! 💪😎
Q: could you give us a written version of the directions? I couldn't hear you clearly on some of the measurements. For example, I think you said the horizontal line at the base of the underarm was a third of something but I couldn't hear what.
Hi Barbara - there are written instructions over on my blog actually - www.thecreativecurator.com/drafting-a-sleeve-block/
That was a good one, but the measures are not clear ... hope to solve by repeatedly playing the video
I did run through the measurements, perhaps put the video on a slower speed setting? I have a habit of speaking too fast when I'm excited about things, and pattern making gets me very excited!😎
Idk what I get wrong but the curved part of my sleeve keeps being 2,5cm shorter 😅
I’ve put in my measurements four times now and followed your instructions (making notes, going back and forth on the video to triple check that I was doing the math and measuring correctly) and I never, never come out with an armscye measurement at the end that is anywhere near (like it’s 10cm or thereabouts LESS) my armscye measurement. Sorry, but I didn’t find this useful. If you know why this happens (I even got my math genius hubby to check I was doing it right) then please let me know!!
I'm sorry, your comment doesn't make the following clear: Are you referring to the armscye on the drafted sleeve pattern being less that the armscye of the bodice pattern *or* do you mean the armscye of the bodice pattern is less than the armscye of the drafted sleeve? If you let me know, I can give you my thoughts.