Tailored Sleeve Head Ease

How Much Ease Should A Sleeve Have ? 

Contrary to popular belief within the clothing industry, not all sleeve heads need ease. While tailored sleeves may have up to 2.5″ (6 cms) ease in total around the armscye, looser fitting sleeves may have no ease at all.

The amount of ease needed is determined by several factors, including the type of sleeve,  the fit, garment function, fabric type, construction method, and skill of the machinist.

Normally tailored sleeve ease is a compromise, because it is impracticable  to add the required amount of ease. So the sleeve is given a practical amount of ease, and a little more lift in the under arm to compensate.

Sometimes the front  underarm sleeve is stretched on to the armhole, although I feel this is an unnecessary complication. Some people refer to this as negative ease.

Tailored Jackets.

Tailored jacket sleeves are constructed to fit an arm held to the side of the body, pitching slightly forward, with little allowance for arm lift. They are not constructed for strap hanging on the tube.

Because the sleeve is constructed with the arm perpendicular with the ground, the head requires a given amount of ease to fit into the shoulder round the bicep.

Normally with ready to wear jackets there is a compromise, as it is impractical to have too much ease for a mass produced jacket.

A bespoke jacket will afford considerably more labour time than a mass produced one, that needs to be manufactured easily and cost effectively.

The bespoke jacket will  generally have much more suppression, where the ease can be manipulated, by shrinking and pressing away. There may be so much ease in a bespoke jacket that it appears like gathering or very fine pin tucks.

Biker Jacket.

Biker jackets, just like cycling jackets, or jockey silks, need to be closely tailored, while providing for maximal forward arm movement. These jackets tend to have little or no ease in the sleeve head.

The armhole will need to be cut high to provide for a good range of arm movement, and the sleeve will be cut with some lift and an exaggerated forward swing, to reflect the riding position.

Arm Angle.

The arm angle the sleeve is designed for is an important factor in  the amount of ease required in the sleeve head.

Because the bicep is not flat against the body, it protrudes beyond the shoulder. If you look at an arm from the front it is very apparent.

If you hold your arm perpendicular to the ground and place a long straight edge against the outside of your arm you will see that there is a 3 – 4 cm  gap between the ruler and the shoulder.

The sleeve needs to be bigger than the armhole to allow for this difference. Both the width and the height need to be bigger. This difference could be in the form of tucks, darts, or ease. Ease is normally the best option.

If you now raise your arm away from your body you will see that there is less gap the further from your body the arm is. This reflects the amount of ease required.

When your arm reaches the same angle as your shoulder there is no gap at all, so no ease is needed at all. As you raise your arm above the angle of the shoulder your shoulder begins to move up, raising  the armhole up with it.

Armhole Height.

Ready to wear garments tend to have a low cut armhole, in order to fit the widest variety of people within a given size range. A well cut jacket needs to have a high armhole to allow for easy arm movement.

Blouse Or Shirt Sleeves.

Most blouse or shirt sleeves do not need any ease at all, although a lot of pattern makers will add ease in to a blouse sleeve regardless.

Factory Made Jackets.

There are two types of jacket factory. There are the highly automated factories that produce high quantities at minimal pricing. These factories have machines that will sew sleeves in automatically, and automatically apply the correct amount of ease in the correct position. In this case, the pattern will have to be made to correspond with the automatic sleeve machines.

Then there are the small factories, producing low quantities of garments for small designer businesses.

Although there will usually be the same amount of cap ease required, these small factories  will not be so demanding as to the exact amount.

Underarm Lift.

Underarm lift refers to the lift added to the bottom of a sleeve head that enables the arm to be lifted without pulling the jacket body up with it.

Tailored sleeves have very little lift, while a kimono should have lots.

How Is Sleeve  Ease Distributed ? 

Sleeve ease needs to be distributed through the area where it is most needed, mainly  through the sleeve head, or sleeve cap. Some is distributed into the back armhole, and some into the mid front chest area. The front scye does not usually have any ease. There is no specific ease ratio

Construction Method.

Most factories will use 3/8″ seams for lined garments, and 1/2″ seams for overlocked seams, although sometimes even a lined garment is overlocked. Some factories will be set up to only use a particular seam allowance. Bespoke tailors may use wider seams or inlays  in order to allow for adjustments.

A bespoke hand tailored jacket will be able to have far more ease than a factory made jacket, while an experienced  tailor can spend far more time manipulating and shrinking the fabric, almost to the point of gathering.

A mass production factory will probably have machines that are set to add a given amount of ease automatically. A smaller factory may rely on the skill of the sewing machinist to ease the fabric in according to the pattern notches.

A factory machinist or sample machinist will rarely use pins to sew in a sleeve, while a bespoke tailor or home sewer may  use multiple pins, and baste the sleeve using a running stitch, which they can then pull through to create the ease. If here is a lot of ease this may be shrunk away.

Programmed automatic sleeve setting machine

The Fabric.

The type of fabric makes a big difference to the amount of ease that can be added to a sleeve. A loosely woven wool fabric will take far more ease than a tightly woven synthetic one.

Shoulder Angle.

The shoulder angle does not directly effect the amount of ease in the sleeve head, but it does lift or lower the whole armhole. A thicker shoulder pad will raise the shoulder angle.

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