Patterns for Pirates

P4P stylish, modern, wearable patterns

Sleeves and Their Wrinkles

I’ve scrolled past the question or remark about wrinkling around armpits a ton in sewing groups.  I’m here to talk about the #1 cause of armpit wrinkle on the sleeves.

It’s easier to understand why we have wrinkles around the armpit when we know how the sleeve was drafted.  Different sleeve types are drafted differently.

 

Dolman sleeves are also drafted so that there are no wrinkles when we have our arms lifted horiztonally.

Raglan sleeves are drafted so that there are little to no wrinkles when your arms are lifted.

Set in sleeves on knit tees are drafted so that there are no wrinkles when our arms are at a diagonal.

Okay, so what does that mean? When your arms are in other positions than the ones the sleeves are drafted for there will always be wrinkles/extra fabric/pulling.  Lets see a few real life picture examples!

Dolman: Shown here: The Sweet Tee Others we have in the shop are: The Pumpkin Spice Dolman and CoCoon Cardigan

Arms up (almost horizontal– I don’t stand with my arms straight out too much for pictures ;)): very little wrinkling or extra fabric and if my arm was up slightly more horizontal it would go away completely.

Arms Down: All the extra fabric is now “bunched”up under my arm when I put them down.

Arms Up:

Arms Down: in this more stable cotton spandex you can really see the difference!

 

 

Raglan: Shown here in the pink and grey: Slim Fit Raglan , Shown here in the black and leopard: Relaxed Raglan , and Shown here in youth: Jolly Roger Raglan

Arm Up: (almost horizontal).

Arms Down:

Arms Up: (again it was near impossible to find one all the way up/out but this is close!)

Arms Down:

Arms Raised: higher than horizontal. You can see the wrinkling move from under the arm to on top, it is being pulled since it is higher than the raglan sleeve is drafted at.

And another raglan set courtesy of my Little Guy 🙂

Arms Up: although it’s a close up, you can see his hands are on his hips-so not fully horizontal, but close!

Arms Down: (that look guys!  He’s a sassy one for sure…that doesn’t enjoy modeling for mama 😉 )

 

 

Set in Sleeves: Shown here: Sweetheart Dress , Shown here in youth: Henley , Shown here: fit picture from testing the upcoming youth tee 🙂 , and also in the shop we have Grandpa Cardigan , Wingman Shirt , Boundless Knit Dress , Buried Treasure Tunic , High Low Tide Top

Arms Diagonal:

One Arm Down and One Arm Extended Up: see the wrinkles are in different spots. My arm that is down creates wrinkle under the armpit area.  My arm that is extended all the way up creates them on top of the shoulder. (Also super crazy face I’m making because it was super windy 😉 ).

Arms Diagonal: the only wrinkling going on here is because I’m pulling my arm to the back (pointing my elbow backwards) unnaturally to try to show off the top.

Arms Down:

Here is a few youth examples of set in sleeves as well!

Arms Diagonal:

Arms Down:

Arms Diagonal:

Arms Down:

Arms Diagonal: (no wrinkling)

Arms Down: (wrinkling at under arm)

Arms Extended Up: (wrinkling above arm/shoulder)

If you’re realizing you have wrinkles at the bust, not sleeve we’ve also blogged about those here!

I hope this helps all you wonderful seamstresses out there creating knit garments and trying to make sure you’re getting the fit right 🙂

 

Knit Types

We get a lot of questions about knit fabrics since most our patterns are drafted for a stretch knit!  We’ve done a few other blog posts trying to answer those questions that get asked most frequently like, What fabric pairs best with this top pattern?” We have our P4P Shirt Fits Explained blog about all the P4P top patterns, their intended fit and what my favorite fabrics are for them.  We also have Different Fabric, Different Fit post all about drape, thickness and stretch and how it can affect the fit of your top/dress.

knit types

Now I bring you a Knit Fabric Cheat Sheet– this is a printable, quick reference guide to knit fabric types that are popular.  I did not encompass every kind of knit fabric available, but I tried to put all the knit fabrics you might see at local stores and what most of us will be ordering online for home apparel sewing.

Sometimes different textile companies like to name/call fabrics by different names as well- so in turn the fabric shop will call it that name.  It can get confusing, but often if you ask the shop what it’s most like in terms of a more popular/well known fabric you will be able to find something to compare it to on this list.

For example: Liverpool.  Liverpool is something that I personal had never heard of in my years of fabric shopping until about a year ago.  It began popping up and becoming popular in LA fabric shops that buy from local textile companies directly and sell in their shops. It is what the textile companies were calling their “textured polyester” (this is what you’re most likely going to see it labeled as at a Joann) and so it’s what the fabric shops were calling it as well.  If you walked into a Joann and asked for “Liverpool” they most likely will not be able to point you in the right direction.

So in short, the fabric industry is constantly finding new ways to create fabrics and each textile company is going to name it what they want 🙂 If you learn the most popular knit types, what the fibers feel like and act like (poly, cotton, rayon, ect), terms like stretch percentage, drape and what that means, different ways to tell the weight/thickness of fabric it will be easier for you to order knit fabric online and know exactly what you’re expecting to receive in the mail! I added some notes at the very beginning of the print out about stretch percentages and weights of fabrics to help as well!

I still recommend going to your local stores and feeling as much knit fabric as possible.  Here I am walking into a Joann Fabrics and looking through a big chunk of their knits.  I tried to grab a variety and talk about them for those who are new to knits:

Same thing at a local Wal-Mart and their knit selection:

I will try to do a few more local stores and maybe some unboxing from online shops one day! 🙂

Here is your printable Knit Fabric Cheat Sheet again.  You can save on your phone or computer and pull it up when trying to order online and are feeling unsure or print it out and take it to your local store to make sure you’re getting what you need for a certain project!

I hope this helps everyone out there just beginning to dip their toes into sewing knit garments! I LOVE my knit pieces for myself, kids, even hubs gets some from time to time 😉 They’re more forgiving with fit, quicker to sew, comfortable to wear and usually require no ironing in the morning! 😉 I’ll try to make knit lovers out of all you!!! <3 <3 <3

 

Newest Patterns