I’m really not happy treating the raglan sleeve as a block because techniclly it’s a pattern based on the sleeve block, but when you use a sleeve on a catsuit it’s more often than not a raglan sleeve. In other words you’re more likely to use a raglan sleeve for swimwear, surfwear and diving than you are to use a standard sleeve. Really it’s only dance and skating that use the standard sleeve. One thing I will say for raglan sleeves is that they’re really easy to put together.
We’ll be making a block for the sketch above. The light orange is the front panel and the dark orange is the back panel. Before you start each step, look carefully at the illustration for that step as it will help guide you through the instructions. At the end of each step your draft should match the illustration. If it doesn’t go back to the start of that step and work your way through again.Step One
Trace around your front and back one piece blocks (I’m only showing the top half of the blocks for space reasons).
Step Two
Put the front and back blocks together at the shoulder and line up the shoulder seam horizontally. Place the sleeve block up against the arm hole, being careful to line up the notch with the shoulder seam. Remember that we’ve already added a couple of centimeters to the sleeve head so we don’t need to add it again.
Step Three
Draft in a curve from the front of the sleeve head gradually up to a point on the neck that matches your sketch (red line). This should be a fairly flat curve. Measure the length of this curve. Mark the length on your flexicurve ruler and use it to draw in the new front arm hole (blue line). Recheck that both lines are the same length. The underarm area of the sleeve and armhole should remain unchanged, as illustrated. Repeat the process for the back.
If you look closely, you’ll notice the little fraction that’s removed from the bodice is actually added to the sleeve head, both front and back.
Step Four
Remove unnecessary guidelines, points and numbers. Cut out or retrace the arm block(s). Make sure you clearly label your block with a title, panel name, size (and any ratio notation), date, author’s name and version number. Do not add seam allowance to the block!
Hi Stuart,
Really appreciate your site. I’m having trouble getting the red and blue lines to be the same length on the back side. I’ve tried a number of changes to the curves but they are consistently 20mm different (other than when they look significantly different to your curves and the ‘fractions’ are significantly different areas). I was wondering how the amount you move the side seam back might impact on the sleeve geometry?
Hi, thanks for this info. I am about to grade sizes for a two piece raglan sleeve. What I believe is all the outside edges are graded, and the two sides that are joined together (the centre of the arm) is left ungraded – is this correct? I have also been searching for a really good book on pattern grading – do you have any suggestions? thanks so much! Catherine
Hi Nicolas. The instructions I’ve given are for stretch fabrics only. The whole site is only about stretch! For non stretch I’d recommend Winifred Aldrich’s book “Metric Pattern Cutting”
Thanks alot.
Ok this is not technically a raglan sleeve but a pretty standard puffed sleeve head with a bit of the sholuder incorporated … the neckline section is probably gathered or pleated to create this. The faux raglan is more a matter of transferring some of the bodice above the bust to the sleeve head so the shouldres are free … it’d feel more like you had shoulder straps than a sleeve
. You should be able to find an African pattern somewhere …. sorry but it’s a little out of the scope of this website.
Thanks Stuart. I will have to read this carefully to get a full understanding as i am so dependent on diagrams.
This is the standard traditional attire (african). A wedding looking top with a long flowing skirt. I just started sewing about two months ago and its been really difficult getting this design right. Here is a pic of my last project. I am worinkg on another right now. Hopefully it will turn out better with your advice.
you have a wonderful site by the way! I have learnt so much. Thanks
Out of interest, people in the sixties did a lot of these as peasant type corselets where the bodice was a heavier cotton and the sleeves were almost handkerchief weight … these were not true raglan sleeve as you’re tying to do but were instead gathered or pleated fullness along the raglan line and collar (usually necessary). I’ve often thought that the same old patterns/concept might be able to be used to do a bridal gown with lace or soft sheer for the sleeves and brocade for the bodice with a narrow mandarin style collar.
OK so I’m getting away from stretch sewing here but it’s an interesting side thought
OK this is a tricky one … I’m guessing this is something taken from a bridal design where the bodice is usually quite close fitting? If you’re not taking the sleeve all the way to the neckline then really it’s just a standard puff sleeve with a slashed head and a flase raglan seam.
If it’s all the way to the neckline then there are two lines of adding extra fullness to the bridal concept I’m aware of. The first is adding fullness along the shoulder seam by slashing from the raglan seam to the shoulder seam (shoulder to neck only) and spreading about 30% … not much more. Secondly (and after step one) you need to slice at the shoulder so the sleeve and raglan section are seperated, then cut from neck to the slice (sort of at right angles to the first cuts) and open about 25% … doing the same to match with the sleeve. It’s going to give you a very strange shaped sleeve head and you might need to toille it a couple of times to get it all in the right place. The objective is to get the center of the puff to sit just inside (rather than outside) the corner of the shoulder rather than outside or with a raglan you end up looking like you’re all shoulders!
I would not be using a single panel raglan sleeve (eg; T shirt type squareness) but rather a two panel design with the sleeves angled downward at least 45 degrees (front/back panels) because you may overwise end up with way too much puff in the front of the armpit. It’s not an easy thing to do so really you’d want to know your stuff … I reckon I’d take a few goes to get it correct for a made-to-measure fitting.
Something I’ve noted is that this tends to work better if you cut the sleeve at the elbow or just below … it llooks really odd if you go all the way to the cuff.
ok Stuart here is the drawing. Thanks
Sorry Susan but I don’t have a login to there at the moment … could you repost the message/images here please and I’ll see if I can offer an answer.
Sorry i am asking the same question again Stuart. My question is not based on a stretch fabric but ona non stretch fabric. I hope this drawing explains it better. I would love to know how to achieve a reglan puffed sleeve like this. The neck as you can see is low. thanks.
http://www.thesewingforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=4233&d=1273664280
Susan, I can’t for the life of me imagine why you’d use stretch fabric to create a puff sleeve?!?! Puff sleeves are not created from a raglan block, but are a modification of the head of a normal sleeve. I have once seen someone put a small puffed sleeve head into a skating dress which was made from a single direction knit but this still moved around all over the place causing ripples and gathers from the excess stitched into the armscye (even with a small puff) … you could try to stabalise the scye with elastic but it’s really not a good idea. Not recommended!
What if i want a puff raglan sleeve like ones on wedding gowns?