Altering Sleeves on a Man's Shirt

My sewing hiatus is over! It feels good to be back in my sewing room again.  I did not take my sewing machine with me on vacation at St. Simons Island, Georgia.  Therefore, I did not sew a single stitch for almost 5 weeks. 

I was tempted to begin a new project such as a jacket for my husband when I returned to my sewing room, but instead I opted for the alteration project I discussed in my last post.  I wrote that I would put shortening the sleeves on my husband’s shirt at the top of my sewing “to do” list for March.  So, the day after I returned home, I began the project of shortening the sleeves on a shirt I made for Dave about 3 ½ years ago.  The shirt has hung in the closet since I finished it because the sleeves were 2 ½ inches too long for him.  I am not sure why I did not realize the sleeves were that long before I finished the shirt.  I think it had something to do with the fact that he has no patience for trying on a muslin several times during the process of fitting!   Although I knew those sleeves needed to be shortened, I also knew it would not be fun to remove the cuffs and plackets from the sleeves and try to redo them!

Anyway, after I read Vanessa Nirode’s article, “How to Alter Men’s Shirts”, in the Spring 2022 edition of Threads Magazine, I finally decided to tackle the project.  Ms. Nirode’s instructions are clear and easy to follow.  However, there are several different ways to make the placket on a sleeve with cuffs, so you may not be able to follow the instructions exactly.  You will know when you examine the placket on the shirt you are altering.  Most shirts will have a placket overlap and a placket underlap.  The shirt I made did not have a placket underlap.  The pattern was Kwik Sew 3883.  Instead of a placket underlap, the pattern simply called for the edge of the underside of the placket to be folded over ¼ inch at the bottom edge and then angled up to the top of the placket and turned over again and stitched down.

I had my husband try on the shirt and I pinned a tuck around the sleeve to determine how much I needed to shorten.  The amount needed was 2 ½ inches.  

Then I removed (ripped out or unsewed) the placket overlap and the cuff.  Although the shirt did not have a placket underlap, it did have a hemmed edge at the underside of the placket.  I removed the hem so the edge would lay flat.

After pressing the sleeve and the parts I removed, I measured the circumference of the bottom edge.  I wanted to make sure that after I removed the excess length, the amount of fabric to reattach to the cuff would be the same as it was before I cut off the excess.  If the amount to be removed was relatively small, I would not be concerned with this because the excess could be taken up in the two tucks.  After I cut off 2 ½ inches from the bottom edge of the sleeve, the measurement around the bottom edge was ¾ inch more than the original measurement. 

I started just below the underarm seam of the sleeve and increased the seam by tapering it to the bottom edge so the seam would be 3/8 inches larger at the bottom edge.  That returned the measurement of the bottom edge to the original size. 

Next, I extended the placket slash line by the amount that I shortened the sleeve (2/1/2 inches). 

I turned the edge of the underside of the placket over twice and restitched it down.  I carefully sandwiched the other side of the placket between the edges of the placket overlap and reattached it using the same stitching lines that I used the first time.

The only thing left to do was to reattach the cuffs.  I pinned the cuff to the bottom edge of the sleeve starting with the underside of the placket and worked around to the side with the placket overlap.  That way I could pin the two pleats as I pinned the cuff to the bottom edge.  I carefully reattached the cuff by sewing on the original sewing lines.

After I completed the first sleeve, the second was easier and faster to do.  I did not remove the cuffs and plackets from both sleeves at the same time because I did not want to take the chance of reattaching a cuff to the wrong sleeve.  I did one at a time to make sure that did not happen.

If I make another shirt for my husband, I will make two changes to this pattern.  I will add a placket underlap and I will narrow the width of the cuffs. 

If you have an alteration that you are avoiding, I hope you will research how to do it and take the plunge.  You can usually find how to do almost any sewing alteration by doing an internet search;  checking Threads Magazine's archives; or searching a book on sewing alterations.   You can contact me by leaving a comment at the end of this post if you want some help with finding information on how to do an alteration.   I will be happy to help if I can.

Judy

#sew #altershirtsleeves