Q&A

PLUS-SIZE SEWING
By Barbara Deckert

When I sew I have no problem fitting sleeves to my oversize arms. But when I buy clothing the sleeves are always too tight. What can I do to enlarge the sleeves when I have no extra fabric?
Sandra R.,
e-mail

First examine the garment to see if you can salvage enough fabric from somewhere else to make underarm gussets. For example, if the sleeves are long and you'd be happy with three-quarter or elbow-length sleeves, you could use the lower sleeve fabric. Perhaps you could shorten a long blouse a few inches or remove patch pockets and use those. Try the fabric store–you might find matching yardage. Or you could purchase a contrasting fabric for the gussets and also use it to embellish the rest of the garment. For example, use a pretty print that coordinates with a solid-color top to add underarm gussets, patch pockets or contrast bands at the lower sleeve and hem edges.

To insert a gusset, remove the sleeve seam stitching in the too-tight area. If necessary, also release a couple of inches of the upper side seam to enlarge the armseye circumference.

Try on the garment to see if the resulting openings make it comfortable. If necessary, remove a little more stitching from the sleeve or upper side seam.

While wearing the garment, note the shape of the opening and measure the length and width. If you only opened up the sleeve seam, the opening will be a long football shape. If you also let out the side seam, the shape will be a long diamond (A).

Cut two gussets the same size and shape as the opening, adding seam allowances all around. (Use the same seam allowance width that was used to construct the garment.)

Reinforce the opening by fusing tiny circles of interfacing on the wrong side over the ends of the remaining seam. Sew over the original stitching a few inches to secure.

Turn under the opening edges and lightly press. Fit the gusset in the opening, aligning the seam allowance raw edges; pin (B).

With the gusset facing down, fold the garment and seam allowances out of the way to avoid catching them in the gusset seam. Stitch the gusset to the garment ending precisely at the original seams; backstitch.

Finish the gusset seam allowances, and press them toward the garment.

Barbara Deckert writes more about gussets in Sewing for Plus Sizes: Design, Fit and Construction for Ample Apparel and in Sewing 911: Practical and Creative Rescues for Sewing Emergencies, both from Taunton Press. Barbara is a custom dressmaker in Elkridge, MD.

From the January 2006 issue of Sew News magazine.