The Easy Way to Sew Sleeves

I had a discussion with someone on Instagram about setting in sleeves and realized this is a sewing struggle I hear about pretty often. My mom taught me to properly set in sleeves when I was about 12, so I really don’t have a hard time with it, but I still find it fussy the traditional way, and it’s never been my favorite.

BUT, several years ago, after sewing lots of doll clothes, in which you set the sleeves “in the flat”, I decided that if it’s good enough for doll clothes, it’s good enough for my clothes too! I now set in my sleeves the easy way almost every time and I’ve never looked back.

Let me teach you the secret to sewing sleeves without the stress!

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Sewing sleeves “in the flat” is basically just moving the order of things around. You sew your shoulder seams, but not the side seams of your garment. You still put two rows of basting stitches in your sleeve head between the markings, but do not sew your underarm seam.

Then you pin and sew in the sleeve as you normally would, adjusting the gathers to ease it in between the markings. The different is, you aren’t messing with the small circular shape that you have when you sew the sides seam and underarm seam first, making it so much easier.

Once your sleeve is sewn, gathering stitches removed and seam is pressed toward sleeve, you can sew up the side seam and underarm seam in one fell swoop.

There are two main reasons why I love sewing sleeves in this way. The first is obvious: it’s easier! The reason doll clothes patterns call for sewing sleeves in the flat is because the arm hole is too tiny to do it the other way around. When you aren’t messing with the already sewn arm hole, it’s so much easier to ease the sleeve in, while keeping the other fabric out of the way. It’s also easier to press the seam when you’re done.

The second reason I like this method is because it makes it very easy to alter the side and underarm seam after sewing. Shaping the underarm and side seam to fit me perfectly is an adjustment I make very often, but it’s usually a finishing touch to perfect the fit, so by saving this seam for last, it’s easy to shape it how I like it, without having to undo the sleeve seam if I had done the sides seams before setting in my sleeve.

I do the same with knit garments, but it’s even easier, since you don’t need the gathering stitches! I don’t even pin it, I just use my serger to sew it right in.

My only exception to sewing sleeves in the flat is when the sleeve requires some fancy finishes that are easier to do without already being attached to the garment, such as my Nutcracker dress. In that case, I finished the sleeves completely and then sewed them in the traditional way.

I hope this helps someone! Go forth and fear not the sleeves!

Cheers :)