Drafting a by Hertogin Magdalena vander Meere mka: Nancee Beattie. Find me on facebook!

Measurements:To begin drafting, you need a set of Basic Sleeve measurements, as follows: Next you draft the . Draw a Shoulder width, across the back. T. The vertical of the T is your upper Chest at widest point. arm length. The horizontal of the T is your bicep. Starting at the top of the Armscye (around the upper arm) T, mark a point X number of inches from the top, X being the upper arm Shoulder to armpit (straight down from the point of shoul- der to right at the armpit length minus the lower arm length. Arm length (upper arm, shoulder to wrist with elbow bent) Sleeve head: Draw a wave that starts at the third line from the top at one Arm length (lower arm, armpit to wrist, with arm out) edge, is at the top of the T in the Bicep (flexed, widest point) middle and goes back to the bottom. When you measure this line, it should Elbow (bent) be the same as your armscye. If not, adjust by widening or narrowing Forearm the curve at the top. You can use a Duck hand (hold hand flat with thumb tucked under, as if French curve or a flexible ruler to you were going to make a duck shadow puppet with the achieve the armscye measurement in mouth closed tight), measure across the knuckles one try. wrist : the other end of the T is a the cuff. You need to decide if you want the sleeve to fit over the hand without a closure. If there will be no closure, draw a line at the bottom, centered on and perpendicular to the upright of the T that equals the mea- surement of your closed hand, or Duck Hand. Mea- sure back up the upright of the T one or two inches, and mark points on either side of the upright of the T the same distance as the duck hand. This will give you a straight Armscye cuff that can be hemmed much more easily. Draft the armscye first. Draw an x and y axis on your pat- tern paper/fabric. The top point of the armscye is one-half Elbow: Find the halfway the shoulder measurement from the x axis along the y axis. point between the cuff and Drop down to the shoulder-to-armpit the sleeve head. Mark two points, on each side of the measurement. Measure out from the upright of the T, each half the elbow measurement away. x axis along the y axis by one quarter From point to point across the T should be equal to the of the chest measurement. Draw a elbow measurement. shallow J between the shoulder and the armpit. For a fitted garment, it may help to make the front J deeper than the back J. The sum total of the length of the front J and the back J must equal the armscye measurement. Finish the basic : Draw a line from the armpit Making a sleeve with the up the back to the bicep to the elbow to the cuff on both sides of the sleeve. They should be symmetrical. For a less fitted Follow the same steps as for sleeve, Make the line straight from the armpit to the cuff, a basic sleeve, except that the just make sure there is room for the bicep and the elbow. sleeve head at the top is an S curve. Draw a point between the top of the T and the arm- pit point out from the upright of the T to line up with the armscye measure. Starting at the middle point, make an S curve that goes down to the bottom line at the one quarter point along the arm- pit line, then rises to halfway up on the middle point and continues to the top at the three-quarter point and curves back down to the halfway mark. See illustration. Add .

The sleevehead is now offset in such a way that the seam will be up the back of the garment and not underneath. This is great for elbow bend freedom.

If the bicep is larger than the armscye, increase the arms- Making a shorter sleeve cye measurement to allow for a curve at the sleeve head, and adjust the body pattern accordingly. Shortening a sleeve pattern is simply a matter of deciding how long the sleeve should be and marking across that Add seam allowance. part of the sleeve. However, it is important to mark a rect- angular cuffed edge to make finishing the sleeve frustra- This sleeve pattern results in a sleeve with the seam under tion free. the arm and lined up with the side seam of the garment. This is the most basic sleeve. A two-part sleeve Putting a cuff on a sleeve Draft the sleeve head the same When putting a cuff on a sleeve, draft the pattern with a as with a back seam sleeve. wider cuff opening, perhaps as wide as the elbow. Perhaps Draw a tubular sleeve (as if the the entire sleeve is the width of the bicep. elbow and the wrist are the same measurements as the bi- cep. Divide the elbow measure- ment into thirds. Mark one third in from the armpit side of the sleeve at the halfway point, and two thirds in on the sleevehead side at the same point. Divide the wrist or duck hand measurement into thirds and mark the pattern similarly at the cuff. These marks give you a ref- erence for dividing the sleeve along a curve up the middle all the way to the sleeve head.

Draft a cuff using the wrist measurement by whatever width the cuff will be. If the wrist measurement is 8”, and the desired cuff is to be 2” wide, make a rectangular pat- tern that is 8”x2” plus seam allowance, of course. two cuff pieces per sleeve. Sew them together on two short sides and one long side. the sleeve cuff onto one unsewn edge of the cuff, distributing the gathers (or pleats, if you like) evenly. Sew the cuff closed, encasing the raw edges. Put any kind of closure on the cuff such as a tie or and loop. If you want a button and , Angle the cuff to give it 90 degree corners. Curve the make the cuff a half inch bigger than the wrist measure- outside edges of the sleeve pieces as shown. Add seam ment so it can overlap a bit. allowance. Putting a buttonhole plaquette into a sleeve Adding a plaquette is a matter of determining where the seam will end and the will start. Often, but not always, this is at the elbow. On the pattern, at the elbow, on the sleevehead side, draw a line that angles outward about ¾ of an inch, then draw a line from elbow to wrist that runs parallel to the orig- inal sleeve seam line. Add seam allowance. Face both open edges of the sleeve with , or a scrap of fabric. Seam the sleeve from elbow to sleevehead and set in as usual. The edges of this plaquette will stick out. Fold the plaquette over the other edge and down at the elbow. The sleevehead side is generally on top and is where the go. The back edge is underneath and is where one puts the buttons.

Alternately, do not add the placquette. Leave the sleeve open from the elbow down, finish the edges, and add button loops.