How to Lengthen Sleeves?

[gretchen28]

ok creative peeps,  i need some ideas...

my friend matt needs my help in brainstorming how to make the sleeves longer on this really fun and tacky western shirt he HAD to have.
 
the thing is, he's got these arms that go on forever and ever and the bottom of the cuffs hit him about 3 inches higher than he would like.   nice, huh?

Here's his email to me explaining more of what he would like:

Anyway, I really want the sleeves to be ultra long so even when I play the guitar the cuff will still be way down on my hands.  
And in an ideal world I'd want the cuffs redone to be bigger so they slide up the hand and i'd love to have five or six snaps instead of three and a really big flare on the cuff with the cuff being in a teardrop shape when snapped... as opposed to round.  Know what I mean?  Kind of like a "french cuff"

Sooo, i am thinking that this sounds very complicated and i should forget it?!   How do you put snaps on?  how the heck do you sew a custom cuff??  Can you all think of other options here??

[melidomi]

hmm, sounds tricky.
I think your best bet would be to drag him to a fabric store and look at patterns together to see if you can find one with the right kind of sleeves (maybe in the costume section?  Pirate shirt maybe?)  Then you'd have to make the sleeves separately (measure his arm to make sure the pattern is actually long enough and adjust as necissary) and replace the existing sleeves.

Actually your best bet might be to take out the existing sleeves.  Deconstruct them and make a pattern from them (for the top of the final sleeve, so that it still fits into the shirt) and combine it with a pattern that has the right kind of sleeve bottom.

Good luck and let us know how it works!

[StephJoy]

I think I know how to fix this.... it may be similar to the above post...but
pick out a color that is similar to the decorative stitching, measure the length of fabric you need to make the sleeves long enough and wide enough, plus extra room for when you sew this piece on.  Take off the cuff of the existing sleeve, so that you have a raw edge.  Create a new cuff with the new fabric.  Just fold the fabric over and pin it to the sleeve, matching up the seams and sew that baby on.  You could make the piece twice as long and slightly flared at the bottom of the sleeve to that he can fold the cuff up.

I hope this helps, I'm more of a visual person, it's sometimes hard to explain exactly what I mean without showing pictures.

[gretchen28]

a-ha!

i am now understanding how this might work!


i'll just take off the cuff and make some huge extra long ones!!!!!!   excellent idea.  

i will have to shop around for snaps...and i guess there is some sort of machine(?) you would use to attach them.

hmmm, i'll post when i do this. won't be for a few weeks.  

THANK YOU!

[craft-matic]

If you don't want to have to sew new cuffs, you could shop at the thrift stores to find a very large shirt with big cuffs and sew those on instead.  You could still add new snaps to them, or do them french-style if you wanted to.  You could maybe even find them in a contrasting color (like red?) or white with some funky pattern if your friend would go for that.  Then find something fun to do with the shirt you took the cuffs off of.  Shoulderbag?  Pillow?  Dress?  

[gretchen28]

you're right.  

i mean, Why Reinvent the Wheel?

just wish i was getting some favors for doing this.

the guy's my ex!!!

[craft-matic]

That's nicer than I would be to any of my exes!  BTW, I love the Auntie Mame quote--that's my favorite movie EVER.  

[haptotrope]

You could... (test it on a disposable thrift shirt.)  take a potion of the sleeve... (upper arm, or lower) snip it in half, and just insert a contrasting piece of fabric -- for a punk rock tip you could screenprint or embroider on the contrasting band.
OR, find some material much like the white shirt, and some piping, and do the same thing, only use piping at the seams, and white for the insert)

Good luck!

[craft-matic]

Looking at the shirt again, I'd also say, if you're going to make the cuffs bigger, you might consider pulling the collar off another shirt too, as the one on the shirt above may be too narrow for a shirt with big cuffs....

[www.sly-eye.com]

Looking at the shirt again, I'd also say, if you're going to make the cuffs bigger, you might consider pulling the collar off another shirt too, as the one on the shirt above may be too narrow for a shirt with big cuffs....

This may be not necessary I am wearing a shirt I purchased it has oversized cuffs with a regular collar and it lookies fine.