Shortening Sleeve Length

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Hi Professor! Happy New Year! So here’s the issue of the moment. I found a plaid flannel shirt for my husband at the thrift store the other day that was obviously made for an orangutan….the sleeves are ridiculously long. I need to shorten the sleeves by like 3″.It’s a button down with a sleeve placket so I think to take it from just above the cuff would make it too difficult (and I’m not even sure if that’s the correct way. So I’m planning to take it off the top of the sleeve. What’s happening though is that because the sleeve narrows as it goes down from the top, the sleeve hole is too big to fit the sleeve unless I gather (which I assume would transform it into a poufy blouse = not cool, lol). So I’m thinking that my only solution is to narrow the bodice underneath the sleeve at the seam so it matches up better. I’ll have to taper the sides until they fit. I think I have enough room on the sides of the shirt that it won’t look too narrow on him but not sure if this is my best option. Is this what I should do? Will it just change the shirt too much altogether? I’m wondering if I’m even approaching the situation right at all?? Could you please give me some guidance as to how to go about this the right way? Luckily it doesn’t look like the plaid print really needs to match up so that makes things a tad bit easier. Thank you so much! = ))

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

oh goodness, that is a pickle but I did laugh a your orangutan comparison. Maybe you should consider donating it to a zoo or circus, haha. You can take in the underarm seam to make it smaller, but then you run into the trouble of making the armholes too tight. And even if you finish and he can still fit his arms through, you still need to make sure there’s enough ease so he can still raise his arms and have basic movement. As much as it’s a pain in the neck, the best way to shorten the sleeves is at the bottom, by removing the cuff, shortening and recreating the placket and replacing the cuff. I think the easiest way for doing a new placket is the just slit the sleeve the same length and then use a narrow bias tape to finish the raw edges.

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Haha…the more I think of this project…the more I want to laugh. I could totally transform this shirt into something new….a la Eddie Vedder/Prince mash-up…just blouse it up for him…and IF perchance my poor husband were to manage to somehow wedge his arms into those painfully tight sleeve holes, it would simply rip apart at the seams if he dared move like a human..hehehe. Oh why did I say,” Oh definitely get this shirt honey….I can totally fix these long plaid tubes disguised as sleeves…It’s really nothing to fix it…it’ll take me just like a half hour probably.” Lol. No, but seriously thank you for your input and yes I think I have to agree with you and remove the length from the bottom. It’s really probably not too hard…just something I’ve never done so it will just be something new to learn, which is awesome yay! actually found a vid on YouTube where some Tailor did it and he was like..bim bam boom and he was done! So I’m going to try this method and see how it comes out. If not, I’m donating it to the zoo. Thanks again!

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