Fit to Flatter Installment 6: Sleeves.
Posted on 20 June 2010
Fit to flatter is a ten-part series of tutorials on choosing and modifying knitting patterns to flatter your shape. These tutorials will be released every two weeks both as blog posts (free) and as separate, professionally formatted PDF files for printing (nominal charge). Should you desire the PDFs, each installment can be purchased from the tutorial page as they are released, or via a “buy now” button at the end of the installment. Individual installments are US$2.00 and at the end of the tutorial series the whole series will be available for $US10.00. All text copyright Amy Herzog and all images copyright splityarn 2010, unless where otherwise noted. I hope you enjoy the series!
This ten-part series is not about making you feel badly about what you have already knit. It is not about making you feel badly about your shape, or about making you feel like you can only knit certain things, in certain yarns. In writing these tutorials, I want to help you learn basic principles for dressing the figure you have in the most flattering way possible.
Every person reading these words has both fabulous assets to show off and a thing or two that you wish would disappear forever (or, in some cases, appear forever). The fact is this: Though I won’t argue that we’d all be healthier if we exercised more, wearing flattering clothes will do much more to change the way you feel about your body than losing weight or gaining muscle will.
As knitters, we have the ultimate power of creating a piece of couture perfectly suited to our figures, every single time. Your hand-knits should make you look and feel like a million bucks, and not just because of the skill required to form the stitches. I want to help you get there.
Previous installments have covered all the generalities of determining your own shape and what sorts of sweaters flatter it. Now we’re tackling individual garment elements that are easy to modify and have a big impact on flattery. In the previous installment, we dissected necklines. In this installment we’ll focus exclusively on sleeves. Future installments will cover other garment elements, advanced sweater modification, and custom sweater design.
Two Measurements: Length and Width.
Sleeves are an often-overlooked sweater element with a big impact on flattery. Like necklines and hems, the contrast of the end of the sleeve with the wearer’s skin forms a horizontal visual line across the body. The fit of the sleeve can also play visual tricks regarding the wearer’s arm. Much like necklines, there are two important dimensions to consider in the fit of a sleeve: length and width.
Sleeve Length.
Very little in a sweater can be modified as easily, and with as big an impact, as sleeve length. (The only other example that comes to mind is hem length, which we’ll cover in the next installment.) Where the visual line formed by the sleeve cuff gets drawn (and consequently which part of the wearer’s torso the eye is drawn to) is directly determined by where the sleeve falls. Generally speaking, short sleeves will draw the eye to the bust; elbow sleeves to the waist; ¾-length sleeves to the upper hip region, and long sleeves to the lower hip region.
Notice in these pictures how the short sleeves draw the eye to Caro’s neckline, and the elbow sleeves to Jess’ waist. Short and elbow-length sleeves are fantastic for bottom-heavy and proportional shapes. They can work on top-heavy shapes, too, but should be chosen with care so that the visual element created by the sleeves doesn’t detract from the flattery of the sweater.
Elbow-length sleeves are an especially nice choice for curvy knitters with a small waist, as those sleeves draw the eye to the wearer’s narrowest point.
Typically, ¾-length sleeves will form a continuous line with the hem of a sweater, which can be flattering on many figures so long as the hem does not fall at the wearer’s widest point. Here, the sleeves draw an attractive line on Crystal’s proportional form.
Long sleeves are usually most flattering to top-heavy and proportional shapes, since they draw the eye down from the shoulder/bust region.
Danielle looks especially good in long sleeves like those on this red sweater:
While there are exceptions to the following principle, it is almost always the case that all shapes are most flattered by sleeves that end at their narrower half: Shorter sleeves for bottom-heavy shapes and longer sleeves for top-heavy shapes. Proportional shapes can wear any kind of sleeve so long as the rest of the garment properly balances the horizontal line they draw on the wearer’s figure.
One more principle about sleeve length needs to be mentioned: The length of the knitted sleeve should match the desired length on the wearer’s arm. No matter how appropriate the visual elements in a sweater are, if the sweater doesn’t fit properly, our eye is drawn to the flaws.
Jess and Kathy provide an example of this in the picture below. The sweaters themselves are pretty good shapes for each of them—but Kathy’s sleeves are too long, and the sleeves are too short for Jess. Instead of noticing the nicely proportional elements in the sweaters (and particularly the nice fit on Jess’s waist), the eye picks up on the fact that the sleeves are the wrong length—and the sweaters aren’t flattering.
We’ll go into more detail on modifications later in this installment, but a good way to estimate how long you’d like your sleeve to be is to measure an existing sweater or shirt with a good sleeve length.
Sleeve Width.
The width of the sleeve is nearly as important as the length in determining the flattery of a garment. As width is substantially more difficult to change, it is fortunate that arm width tends to vary less than arm length. For most garments worn next to the skin or over a light layer, most wearers want a sleeve with just a bit of ease (around 1—2″/2.5—5cm). This ensures that the sleeve isn’t obviously tight anywhere but does not bag or make the arm appear larger than it is. If more substantial layers will be worn under the sweater (like a button-down shirt or thick turtleneck), double the ease.
Women who carry weight on their upper arms, like I do, are the ones most likely to need to worry about sleeve width. For these women, the most care must be taken with short sleeves–any sleeve that looks tight on a place with some extra weight is likely to draw the eye. In the picture above, you can see that this sleeve just skirts the edge of what flatters—anything tighter and the sweater would probably look too small.
Edge Cases.
Of course, some sleeves break all of the principles I’ve mentioned above. Generally speaking, the eye will follow lines created by angles before following straight lines. So any sleeve that either employs an angle itself or ends at a point where the sweater incorporates another angle will be an edge case: The usual principles will be modified by the angled line involved. Usually, the angle involved creates a vertical visual impression, narrowing the portion of the body with the angle.
Cap sleeves are an example of an angle on a sleeve that most knitters are very familiar with. Thea Colman’s Short Lucky uses cap sleeves. When worn with the proper ease, as on Erin, below, the sleeves draw two angular lines pointing down toward the waist. This “V” is very flattering to her larger bust, drawing an arrow pointing directly at her narrow waist and hips. This angle is most flattering on women with larger busts but smaller shoulders—I believe that on a broad-shouldered, smaller-busted shape the top of the angle would draw too much attention upward.
Jess’s shirt, below, also has cap sleeves forming a V that points to her narrow waist. (In fact, the impression is even stronger on Jess’s top since the neckline employs the same angles.)
Bell sleeves also incorporate an angle, but with the sides of the sleeve rather than the edge. These angles form an inverted V on each sleeve, and tend to draw the eye to the spot on the wearer’s body framed by the entire belled portion of the sleeve (rather than the edge of the sleeve). The sleeves on the green sweater I wear below draw the eye to the 2—3”/5—7.5cm immediately below my bust—a very flattering bell sleeve on my curvy, bottom-heavy shape. That same bell at the bottom of a long sleeve would draw the eye to a 3’’/7.5cm region of my lower hips/upper thighs and would be very unflattering.
Finally, sleeves can also draw attention to an angle within the body of a sweater. In Crystal’s wrap-front top, below, the sleeve’s hem falls exactly where the wrap ties. This calls attention to the flattering angle of the wrap, defining a waist on her straight shape.
Now that we’ve gone through the principles of making sleeves flatter our shapes, let’s turn our attention to modifying the length, width, and construction of sleeves as written.
Modifying Those Sleeves.
A guiding principle when considering sleeve length and width is that, like neckline length and width, long/short sleeves and wide/fitted sleeves are relative terms. They refer to how a sweater’s sleeves fall on your specific body. When starting a pattern, please look carefully at the schematic and compare how the sleeve circumference (at several places, if the pattern offers those measurements) and the sleeve length compare with your list of measurements from Installment 4.
There is a little more detective work to be done in the case of sleeves than necklines, as the length of the sleeve on its own will not tell you where the sleeve will end on your body. You took four different sleeve length measurements in Installment 4, and these are the numbers you will want to reference. But it’s a good idea to double-check these numbers against sweaters or shirts that fit you well and have good sleeve lengths. The sweaters or shirts should not have sleeves that are substantially smaller than your arm circumference (this is the case with many of the layering tees currently available). If you have no sweaters with perfect sleeve lengths already, a good alternative is to wear a button-down shirt and put safety pins at the short, elbow, ¾, and long sleeve lengths.
When you examine a pattern schematic and compare it to these measurements, you’re likely to want to make a few modifications to ensure that the sweater fits you perfectly. Let’s examine the steps one would need to take to alter the length and width of existing sleeve directions in turn.
Altering Length.
Changing the length of a sleeve without altering its circumference is an almost trivial modification. (And “without altering its circumference” typically implies that you’re keeping the category of length the same: keeping a short-sleeve sweater a short-sleeve sweater, for example.) For sleeves without shaping, like many short sleeves and elbow length sleeves, simply don’t knit as long in order to shorten the sleeves, or knit longer to lengthen.
For sleeves that incorporate shaping where you’re not changing the fundamental category of the sleeve, you’ll want to change the length of knitting containing the shaping in a way that’s proportional to the total length you’re changing. To change a sleeve length in this way, perform the following steps:
- Calculate the percentage of the original sleeve’s length you want to knit by dividing your desired length by the original pattern length. Unless you’ve got exceptionally short or long arms, this will probably be within 80—120% of the original length.
- Calculate the height of the sleeve portion taken up by shaping by dividing the number of rows between the first shaping row and the last by the pattern’s row gauge (or your own row gauge, if it differs from the pattern’s). This gives you the number of inches of shaping in the original pattern.
- Multiply the resulting number (probably a fair portion of the original sleeve length) by the percentage calculated in Step 1. The resulting number is the amount of length you want the shaping to fall within on the modified sleeve. Multiply it by row gauge to get the number of rows in the shaping portion of the modified sleeve.
- Divide that number by the number of shaping rows, rounding down. Call this number X. Your new shaping instructions will be to work the original number of shaping rows, one every X rows.
Let’s go through these steps with an example. The pattern I’m knitting is a long-sleeved pattern, and the sleeves as written measure 18’’. There are 8 rows to the inch, and the sleeve as written calls for 6 increase rows separated by 17 straight rows each. I would like the sleeves to stay the same width as in the original pattern, but my arms are short so I want the sleeves to be 16’’ instead of 18’’. Step 1 tells me that I want the new sleeves to be 16/18 = 89% of the length of the original sleeves. Step two tells me that as written, the shaping takes up ([1 + 17] * 6)/8 = 13.5’’ of the original sleeve. Following Step 3, I multiply this number by the percentage: 13.5 * .89 = 12” of shaping in the new sleeve. Multiplied by row gauge, I want 96 rows of shaping in my new sleeve. Finally, following Step 4 I divide 96 by 6 and discover that I want to knit a shaping row every 16 rows in my new sleeve.
I can now knit the sleeve with the following modifications: I do an increase row every 16 rows instead of every 18 rows, and I start the sleeve cap shaping when the sleeve measures 16” instead of 18”.
Altering Circumference.
There are two classes of circumference changes: when you’d like to change the circumference of the portion of the sleeve that doesn’t attach to the rest of the sweater, and when you’d like to change the circumference of the portion of the sleeve that does.
The first is easy, and usually involves a length change too. This is what you’d like to do when shortening long sleeves to short sleeves, for example. If you don’t want any shaping at all, you can simply cast on the number of stitches in the original sleeve at the bicep and work to the desired length. If you’d still like shaping, just more or not as much, simply divide the new number of shaping rows you’d like over the number of rows in your new desired shaping length.
Changing the circumference of the portion of the sleeve that attaches to the body of the sweater is more complicated. I’ll go over a method for a set-in sleeve, since instructions for changing yoked and top-down raglans can be found in Elizabeth Zimmerman or Barbara Walker’s books.
The first thing to calculate is the number of stitches you’d like in the sleeve at its widest point. You now need to calculate the decrease rate in such a way that the length of the curve on the sleeve cap is equal to the length of the curve of the armhole depth. This is a complicated calculation, but fortunately the wonderful folks at Exercise Before Knitting have created an online armscye calculator to do the heavy lifting for you. You’ll need to note some basic information from the main portion of the pattern in the top portion of the form; for the sleeve cap portion, you’ll need to know the following:
- Initial stitch count at armhole: You just calculated this.
- Initial bind-off on each side: This is the same as the number of stitches you bind off initially at the armholes on the body pieces.
- Final bind-off at top of sleeve cap: Retain this information from the pattern as written.
- Number of bind-off stitches before final: Again, retain this information from the pattern as written.
- Rows the previous bind-off take: Again, don’t change this number.
The calculator will tell you the number of decreases you need in the sleeve cap and how many rows they should span. You now have a choice: You can simply divide the number of decrease rows by the total number of rows and work a straight sleeve cap, or you can print out some knitter’s graph paper and draw a different sleeve cap shape. Then, generate instructions from the drawn sleeve cap.
When the sleeves are patterned.
Altering the sleeves of a patterned sweater can get a little tricky, but it follows the same principles outlined above. The big thing to remember is that you’ll need to increase or decrease the length or width by the number of rows or stitches in the pattern repeat.
And remember: When in doubt, draw it out on knitter’s graph paper. This is an easy and reliable way of double-checking your work or seeing how something will work out.
What’s Up Next.
Sleeves can have a dramatic effect on whether a particular pattern flatters your shape, and the length of a sleeve is trivial to modify. At this point in the tutorial series, we’ve discussed both general principles for dressing to flatter your shape and specific implementation in terms of project choice, sleeves, and necklines. The next two installments will cover sweater length and shaping. Installments 9 and 10 will close out the series with collected thoughts on implementation and advanced topics like custom sweater design.
I feel passionately that you should have a closet full of hand-knits that you’re proud to wear wherever you go. Helping you understand what your own shape is and how you can choose knitting patterns that will make you look your best are the reasons I’m writing this tutorial series. I hope you’re enjoying them!
(This tutorial is available in a PDF formatted for printing for a nominal charge of US$2.00: 
It is 7 printed pages.)
9 responses to Fit to Flatter Installment 6: Sleeves.
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I am really liking this series and intend to purchase the complete set when you are done! Thanks for this well written and illustrated information!
It all makes so much sense! I too will buy the set
Your series is so enlightening! I’ve learned so much from it, and will definitely buy the complete set when available. Thank you for doing this!
Loving the series. But is there a link to the calculator you refer to? In your source code, it looks like you lost a closing angle bracket that munched the link. :-)
Amy! Just purchased the sleeve installment as I want to add sleeves to a shell.
We missed you in our knitting circle in Monterey. You look very happy and healthy. Children keep one young!
I know that I, for one, really appreciate all of the work you’re putting into this series. Thanks so much!
It’s a great serie, I hope to see the next tutorials soon.
Very good. thanks!
could you refer us to some free patterns, its only refers to buy patterns, please? thanks.
[...] Sleeves. Are there sleeves at all? Short? Elbow? Long? Belled or flutter? There are lots of choices, so remember the basic principle: Sleeves will draw attention to the portion of the wearer’s body that falls in line with the sleeve cuffs. A tank or cap sleeve draws attention to the shoulder/neck area; short sleeve to the bust; elbow to the waist; ¾-length to the high hip, and long to the widest part of the hip. Sleeves that change shape (flutter sleeves, puffed sleeves, ballooned sleeves, etc.) will draw additional attention to the portion of the wearer’s body in line with the change in sleeve shape. For example, long belled sleeves draw the eye from the hip down even further to the top of the thigh. [...]