J Stern Designs l Quick Tip: How to Shorten the Shoulder Seam on a Constructed Garment 

I'm so sorry I missed your comment... Happy to help. Thank you for watching!

Yay, so happy the mystery is solved!

Thank you for the kind words... so happy it helps! Thanks for fitting along with me.

Joy Christianson I’m so happy this tutorial was helpful... thanks so much for watching

So sorry I missed your comment... Thank you for watching!

Thanks so much. I will add how to make a banded collar to my RU-vid List. I have a class at patternreview.com called the perfectly fitted shirt. In this class I show how to fit and construct a shirt step-by-step. If you like my teaching style, I think you would really benefit from this class... Here's the link to check it out :) sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/sewingclasses/class.pl?id=156 (good news, it on sale right now too!)

+carol davis Thanks Carol :)

Thank you and thanks for watching!

Thank you for fitting along with me! (sorry for the delayed response!)

I'm so sorry I missed your comment... Happy to help. Thank you for watching!

So happy this helps you, thanks for watching

Happy to help! Thanks for watching

Thank you for watching!

Thanks so much!

So sorry I didn't see your comment. Thank you and thanks for watching

Thanks so much! and thank you for sewing along with me!

I did a new series showing how to fit a bodice. Part 1, working in the Blue Zone will show you how to figure out where the armhole should sit. Check this out: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gNsFm8t_F8o.html Hope this helps! Thanks for fitting along with me

Thank you for serging along with me, Sorry for the delayed response

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!

Thanks for watching :)

Thanks so much! ...and thank you for fitting along with me

Taking in the side seams starting right up at the top will also shorten the armhole. I think I would pin the sleeve back into the armhole after shorten the shoulder to see how it fits before taking in the side seam... You may have to take in the underarm seam as well to get it to fit. Hope this helps! Thanks for fitting along with me

You are so welcome!

Sorry for the delayed response!! Trimming off the shoulder length and some of the armhole should not affect the overall length of the armhole... so there is no need to adjust the sleeve cap. Thank you for sewing along with me! Sorry for the delayed response

My pleasure, Yes, you can sew the sleeve back on using the same seam... You may have to ease a little extra along the cap into the armhole if you had to shorten the shoulder seam a significant amount. Thanks for fitting along with me

Hi Bij, I'm sorry you're having trouble with your flannel shirt pattern. I think I need to see photos of the two pattern pieces so I can see what's going on. I have a facebook group called "J Stern Designs Fitting and Pattern Perfection" If you join the group you can post photos there so I can see them (Plus it may inspire others too!)

So happy this helped you! Thanks for watching

Taking 4" off is a lot :)) I'm guessing your armhole is now too big for the sleeve cap. You can "scoop" the curve on either side of the sleeve cap a little bit to give your sleeve cap more length to match the longer armhole. ... Hope this helps! Thanks for watching

Yes I can... Here you go! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BTQsczfroTk.html

That's a great questions.... Yes, if you pick up the shoulder and sew the sleeve on, it will be approximately the same amount shorter!

So sorry I didn't see your comment. Thank you and thanks for watching

Basically you would do it the same way... Carefully pick out the serged seam around the armhole. If you clip the threads through the stitch in the front and back (about 4 inches from the shoulder seam) You can pull out the needle threads and the looper threads will just fall off). Then shorten the shoulder as shown in the video and sew the sleeve back on. Hope that helps :) Jen

My Pleasure! I might try removing 1" from each shoulder and see how it's fitting. If you need to take more off, you can fine-tune from there. If you want to test it, you can stitch a line where you think you're new seam is going to be on the shoulder and armhole. Then baste it together with the sleeve and check the fit before cutting off the excess. Thank you for fitting along with me from Nigeria!! I

Yes you can! The trick is taking out a seams without making a hole in the knit fabric. Thanks for watching

@@JSternDesigns Thank you again! I really really appreciate your clarity and detail. It's terrific!👏

@@JSternDesigns P.S. My 90-yr-old mum wants me to alter a T-shirt of hers. I've done lots of non-stretch for her, but was nervous to do this. It's a special design on the T-shirt, otherwise it wouldn't be a big deal. 🤗🤗

Thanks for checking in... 1 1/2" is a lot to trim off the shoulder & the armhole might get longer than the sleeve cap. I think I might try basting in shoulder darts (equal and aligned front/back) to get rid 3/4", then trim 3/4" to get rid of the rest. (Center the darts at the finished length of the shoulder). That should allow you to set the sleeve back in... If you need a little more ease in the cap, take out the top of the underarm seam and sew it back using a small seam allowance. If you sew at 1/4" you'll be adding 1/2" back into the length of the armhole. Hope this helps! Thanks for fitting along with me

You’re welcome 😊 Thanks for fitting along with me

Hi Nancy If the tip of the shoulder is hanging off your shoulder 1" then that's what you have to remove. I'm going to play with this adjustment and share it in a Fit Tip Tuesday in the next few weeks. Thanks for watching!

@@JSternDesigns I’ll be very interested in your findings! In the meantime I tried the slash/move method to create a new pattern piece just to see what that would do to the adjustment and it resulted in basically exactly what you suggested. So I went ahead and did it your way. I took 3/4 inch (at the top) blending down gradually and a little from the shirts side seam and everything is ok...except I really could have taken more if I wasn’t so nervous. Thanks for responding.

I'm sorry you're having trouble fitting the sleeve cap back into the armhole. Try running two rows of gathering stitches along the edge of the sleeve cap. One 1/4" and the second 3/4". Start and stop 3" from the underarm seam. Try gathering the cap to fit the armscye. If there is still too much ease, you can trim a little of the cap off to reduce the total measurement of the cap. Let me know if this helps Thanks Jen

Trimming off the shoulder length and some of the armhole should not affect the overall length of the armhole... so there is no need to adjust the sleeve cap. Thank you for sewing along with me! Sorry for the delayed response

...Are you from Novi? I found the best Ponte Knit at Habermann's Fabrics, did you try there?

J Stern Designs i haven't actually yet due to past disappointments. I guess I'll make the attempt again. :)

Two inches is a lot to short the shoulder. Are you sure you are working with the right size (Measure your high bust measurement ... wrap tape measure around your back, under your arms and over your bust to get that measurement... and compare it to the size chart. If you used your full bust measurement, you may be working with a size that's too big for you. If you are using the right size, check to see if the neckline is too big... If it is, you can take the neckline in a little bit which will draw the shoulder in closer to the tip of your shoulder... Then you can shorten the shoulder the rest. Let me know if this helps! Thanks Jen

@@JSternDesigns Thank you for your help. I think I will start again and adjust the pattern. The rest fits fine, bust, hips etc it's just the shoulder. Your tutorials are a great help. Thank you.

As long as the transition across the shoulder seam is smooth front to back, you can try that... I prefer to lay it flat so I can see the shape I'm making :) Thanks for watching

Sadly there is a limit to how much you adjust the sleeve length on a shirt that's already sewn together. If you need to remove several inches, you may be working with a size that is too big for you... or you might be trying to change the style of the armhole from a dropped shoulder to a set in sleeve. You can try to pin the sleeve up higher on the shoulder (along the armhole) before you trim to make sure you can get it back into the armhole. Hope this helps! Thanks for watching

:)

Thank you for checking in... Do you mean that your sleeve cap has too much ease to fit into the armhole?

@@JSternDesigns.... The jacket was designed that way, however I don't like the look of the gathering at all and would rather take the gather completely out. Sorry, that I'm not that good at explaining it so well. Thanks again😄💐

@@JSternDesigns ...Yes, true !!

:) My pleasure, thanks you for watching!

Sorry I missed your comment. If you need to take in the shirt to make it more narrow, you can create a "Princess Seam" through the shoulder. That way you can pleat out the excess length in the shoulder and take out excess ease in the shirt. Continue the princess seam down to the hem... Sew really close to the fold of the pleat in the areas where you don't have excess ease. Thanks for watching!

Thank you so much!

I'm so sorry I missed your comment. This adjustment doesn't affect the length of the armhole enough to make is necessary to adjust the sleeve cap. Thanks for watching!

Hi Loretta, If your shirt is hanging off your shoulder 3" and the side seam is also 3" too big, you can slash from the middle of your shoulder to the hem and slide the entire side piece in 3". Then true up the shoulder seams. This will need to be done front and back :)

@@JSternDesigns when u say slash , does that mean cut ... If so do that mean I will have a cut seam going down on both shoulders to bottom of garment ...

In most cases, you can just sew it back on. If you have a significant amount to shorten and you make the armhole longer, you can take in the top of the side seam to remove some of the length (if you have a extra ease there). You could also let out the underarm seam as much as possible to lengthen the cap to match. Hope this helps, thanks for watching

Hello Di Toma, If you've just shortened the shoulder and trued the armhole back up... it should not affect the sleeve. Can you tell me how you altered the sleeve?

J Stern Designs I believe the reason so many of us wished you had attached the sleeves is that some of us have never done this before. Saying nothing has changed on the sleeve does not relieve the anxiety. We really need to see it done. Just saying.

@@makinggreatbread Like your name! "Great Bread". Love the stuff. FWIW ... There are many resources available on how to attach a sleeve. That wasn't the purpose of this video. Premise was that the person had ALREADY attached the sleeve and needed to make a change afterwards. Thus, after making the change, it was a simple matter to RE-attach the sleeve.

Great Bread Just baste the sleeves in prior to sewing regular stitch. It should be fine. All you have done is shortened the shoulder seam, so you have to remove the excess fabric that "used to fit" the original longer seam. Therefore, everything should now match perfectly provided you marked center of the sleeve cap prior to the alteration. Relax and test technique on a similar garment you intend to donate to the Goodwill.😊Don't worry...Sew happy!😌

Trimming off the shoulder length and some of the armhole should not affect the overall length of the armhole... so there is no need to adjust the sleeve cap. Thank you for sewing along with me! Sorry for the delayed response

The technique would be the same with a knit top. Also, I like to use a fusible stay tape on the shoulder seam so it doesn't stretch out of shape and grow longer. Thanks for watching

Hi Juanita, If the sleeve cap is smooth (not so much ease that it's gathered) and if the sleeve is not fitting or snug so that you'd notice that the seam allowance was cut off ... I think you'll be ok. Only include the seam allowance from the armhole in your measurement... so if your seam allowance is 1/2" then shorten the shoulder 1/2" to get the 1" you need. Let me know if you need more help. :) Jen

Thanks for being so quick with the answer. I'm going to try since the French seams on my blouse is sewn in so good I can't rip it out.

Make a mark on the sliver, itself, before you remove it from the shirt. Any kind of mark that lets you know that portion is from the front. Make an x or maybe a ✔ mark, for example.

Mala Anand Just write B for back and F for front directly to the shirt section PRIOR to cutting✂️.😊

I'm so sorry I missed your comment... Happy to help. Thank you for watching! ...and thank you to Oldtimer Lee and Jude Jane for chiming in with great answers!

If I were fixing a ready-to-wear shirt, yes, I would have used a seam ripper (carefully)... This is a shirt I was sewing using one of my patterns that needed the shoulder to be shortened a little bit. (The process is the same after the sleeve is removed :) Thanks for watching

Hi Jenny, Thanks for watching :) 3" seems like a lot so shorten a shoulder. Is the pattern designed to have a set in sleeve, or is it an oversized shirt pattern that has the armhole hanging off the shoulder intentionally?

That's a great question! If you trim off the armhole edge from the shoulder seam, following the contour of the original armhole edge as you gradually blend back to the original edge, the length of the new edge is not significantly different & the sleeve should go right back on. If you find that the sleeve cap is too short, this amount should be very small... you can shorten the armhole by sewing a slightly deeper seam at the tip of the shoulder... For example if the cap ended up being 1/4" too short, if you sew 1/8" deeper along the shoulder seam, it will fit, and that tiny adjustment to the shoulder seam should not affect the fit unless you're working with a very close fitting top. Hope this helps!

@@JSternDesigns Thanks.

Sorry to hear about that... You can probably remove up to an 1" from each shoulder seam... but if you need to remove 2" on each side, I think it may be too much. You have have to go back to the drawing board, start with a smaller size... Let me know if this helps.

It helps for sure😉 Thanks a lot. I was affraid that it was to much, and since the fabric is sold out, i Will have to come Up With some kind af gathering on the top sleeve. 🙈 gonna Call it a “design feature “ instead of a mistake🤣🤣 Thank you so much for taking the time to answer a very frustrated Dane🇩🇰

:) ... you do not need to take 3/4” off sleeve. You can double check to be sure the sleeve cap fits into the armhole after you true it up by walking the edges... it’s likely the sleeve will still fit!

Thank you so much for your quick response...I can continue with this job!!

You can try a few things... First, if you have a little extra ease at the base of the armhole, you can take the side seam in a little bit.. Second, you can let the underarm seam out a little bit to lengthen the cap edge & You can also deepen the front and back curves where the notches are to add a little length there too! Hope this helps! Thanks for fitting along with me

If you are working with a ready-to-wear top... try pinning the fabric up at the tip of the shoulder to shorten the top of the armhole ... You can also take the side seams in at the base of the armhole to make it smaller (If you have excess ease to work with)... Hope this helps!

The overall length of the armhole is not significantly affected, so you can re-insert it back in. If there's ease in the cap, sew two rows of gathering stitches at 1/4" &3/4" so you can sew the the sleeve cap into the armhole between the rows of gathers. Hope this helps, thanks for watching

Trimming off the shoulder length and some of the armhole should not affect the overall length of the armhole... Sorry for the delayed response

Yes, it would... but you need to be really careful when you take off the sleeve. Knit fabrics are harder to take apart and easier to make holes in! Good luck and thanks for watching

Thanks for watching... Can you tell me where the shirt is tight?

Trimming off the shoulder length and some of the armhole should not affect the overall length of the armhole... so there is no need to adjust the sleeve cap. Thank you for sewing along with me! Sorry for the delayed response & thank you for fitting along with me.

Don’t cut the armhole completely, that will make it bigger. Just cut from the top and taper in.

@@gbuggy006 where would you get the extra cloth on the sleeve side. Wouldn't it make your sleeves shorter then?

@@chitrachopra1497 Yes it would bring the sleeve up from the wrist, but usually the problem is that the sleeve is too long from the shoulder being too wide to begin with. We've all seen heavier guys wearing shirts like that. They need to fit their large tummy, so they buy a shirt too fit their girth, then the shoulder and arms just hang wide and long. 🤣

@@gbuggy006 thanks

So sorry I missed your comment. It is difficult when you have to purchase a shirt to fit and then it's too big above the bust and shoulders. There is a limit to how much you can shorten a ready to wear shirt before it gets out of whack... This was just an example of how to short the shoulder seam at the shoulder edge... Thanks for watching

So sorry I missed your comment.... Trimming fabric from the armhole through the shoulder seam shortened the length of the shoulder seam. This does not affect the length of the armhole, so the sleeve does not need to be adjusted. Thanks for watching.

I'm not sure what you mean by "no sleeves please" :)

@@JSternDesigns I had dress it had short sleeves but I didn't like the shap of the sleeves and your selves are different.

This is part 2 on how to make this adjustment. Watch part 1. In the prior video, she showed how that overhang limited her arm movement. It is more than a simple cosmetic change. Well worth the effort, as I don't like garments that restrict normal body movements.

I'm so sorry I missed your comment... Fitting is a personal thing... some people fit precisely, where a small adjustment makes all the differences, others are happy if it's in the ball park! Thank you for watching! and Thank you Oyikes and Oldtimer Lee for chiming in with great answers...

Hi, I apologize for not mentioning the next step. Shortening the shoulder seam by trimming off the edge of the armhole does not significantly change the length of the armhole, so there no need to adjust the sleeve. There may be a slight reduction in the amount of ease the cap has, but I did not notice any difference when I put the sleeve back on. Please let me know if you need more help with this and thanks for watching.

J Stern Designs some people may have lost a little bit of weight therefore the sleeves would be too big and it just would have been a more complete process to see it through. I will probably tackle it tomorrow thanks for responding

So sorry about that... there are many wonderful sewing channels on YT, I'm sure you can find one that speaks to you more effectively, Thanks for watching

You're welcome! Thank you for fitting along with me