All You Need to Know About Sleeves Hems

What You Will Learn?

• Sleeve hems and narrow pant hems are not that much different, except one is on the leg and the other on your arm.  When marking sleeves for hemming the preferred method is lying the sleeves on top of each other with the shoulder seams lined up and marking like you would pants.  This ensures that both sleeves will be the same length from the shoulder to the finished hem..
• Because you will be using the same sewing methods to finish off a variety of sleeve hems, please refer to the Pant Hems videos for ½” Top Stitch, 1” Top Stitch, Blind Stitch and Coverstitch hems when these finishes are used on the sleeve..
• Determining a finished length for a client’s sleeves can be done in a couple of ways, each varying in accuracy.  Understanding the pros and cons of each will help determine the best method to use. .
• For example, .
• 1. The client asks for a set quantity removed from the sleeve. (e.g. Shorten sleeve 3”) or have them already pinned to desired length..
• The client may be dropping off a garment for another person or they just do not want to take the time to try them on for the Alterations Specialist to pin.  The pro of this method is it is a quick in-take of work.  The con is that when the sleeve is hemmed the requested amount, and the garment ends up not fitting the intended wearer, the sewer will be found at fault by the client.  As far as the client is concerned, the outfit shortened the desired amount should have been correct for the wearer and now they do not fit- it must be the sewer’s fault. .
•          The best way to protect yourself from this happening is to measure the sleeve length when they come in, subtract the amount the client is requesting to be shortened, and then state to the client (and mark it on the work order) the finished sleeve length the garment will be once hemmed.  Should there be a problem with the fit of the item at this point, the finished length that was agreed upon is the proof that you shortened the garment as requested..
• 2. The sewer pins the garment and the client approving the final length..
• The best method of determining the final length for a client’s outfit is to pin them on the customer, let them see what the finished length will look like, and get their approval.  Once the garment has been hemmed to the agreed upon length, there will rarely be issues with the final fit.  The fact that the client tried the outfit on and agreed to the pinned length will be recorded on the work order and used as a point of reference should there be any problems with the final fit..