men's shirt armscye alteration for very tall

Looking for general advice on sizing up Kwik Sew 3250
(http://www.kwiksew.com/Patterns/P3238_3257/3250.cfm) men's shirt for
man with 54 inch chest and overall height of 6 ft. 8 in. This person
will not be available for fittings, but seems to be of fairly normal
proportions. Where I'm having difficulty is in deciding whether and how
to lengthen within the armscye itself, in addition to adding length in
the body of the shirt. For the most part, sizing-up to 54-in. chest is
not presenting a problem. It's a simple pattern for a casual pullover
sport shirt with ease, and the pattern has simple, multi-size cutting
lines.

According to Kwik-Sew, their men's patterns are sized for a height of 5
ft. 10 in., and my guy is 10 inches taller than that. I'm guessing that
about 5 inches overall additional length should be added to the
original pattern. How much of that should be in the body below the
sleeve and how much in the armscye is a concern. The only
"lengthen/shorten here" line on the pattern is below the sleeve. I
don't think they were thinking of this kind of alteration when that
line was placed.

How about 1 1/2 inches in the armscye, and 3 1/2 in the body below the
sleeve? I can only guess. Is there a rule of thumb out there?
thanks a bunch,
Mary Ann Phila

Dear Mary Ann,

Just remember that when you alter the armscye, you must also alter the
sleeve. A man's shirt has a total of eight inches ease in the chest
area. This sounds like a lot, but really isn't, because a shirt is not
supposed to fit close to the body.

The neck and armscye are the most important places on a man's shirt
that have to fit correctly. Another thing to remember when you begin
alterations is that the store-bought neck size is not the measurement
on the shirt. Your model needs to be measured around the base of his
neck, and the measurement divided in half. Then half of the button
extension for the front should be added to this measurement. The stand
of the collar can be adjusted upward at the center back. Then the
collar can be adjusted at the center back to fit to the dot at the true
center front of the shirt. This is a very common mistake when
adjusting patterns.

To adjust the sleeve head, add half of the adjustment to the armscye to
each end of the sleeve cap, and taper it to nothing at the elbow. To
find the elbow if it is not marked on the pattern, fold the wrist to
the bottom of the armscye. The resulting fold across the pattern is
the elbow.

Teri

aeacsharp wrote:
Looking for general advice on sizing up Kwik Sew 3250
(http://www.kwiksew.com/Patterns/P3238_3257/3250.cfm) men's shirt for
man with 54 inch chest and overall height of 6 ft. 8 in. This person
will not be available for fittings, but seems to be of fairly normal
proportions.

I have made Kwik Sew 2777 for a 6' 4" man, 18" collar and really really
long arms and torso.
I did not have to make any alterations to the armscye to fit him, just
to the length of the sleeves and body.
I realize that your fellow is 4 inches taller than that, but mine was
already 6 inches taller than the pattern was drafted for, and it worked
out OK.
I hope there is a way to check his back length, and sleeve length, that
will give you a good idea of the length alterations at any rate.


liz young

wrote:

To adjust the sleeve head, add half of the adjustment to the armscye
to each end of the sleeve cap, and taper it to nothing at the elbow.

That's only if you adjust the width of the chest by moving the side seams
out at the underarm. If you add extra height to the chest in the armhole
area you need to add the same amount of height to the sleeve in the
corresponding place - above or below the armscye, as appropriate.

The armscye is roughly where the notches are on the pattern.

--
Sally Holmes
Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England

Dear Sally,

When drafting a sleeve for a man's shirt from scratch, the cap is a
straight line, which is later slightly curved. It's OK to add to the
ends to adjust; it works.

Actually, I don't think that the armscye should be adjusted for height,
unless the model has extra heavy arms. It makes more sense to add
below the armhole for height.

Teri

wrote:
Dear Sally,

When drafting a sleeve for a man's shirt from scratch, the cap is a
straight line, which is later slightly curved. It's OK to add to the
ends to adjust; it works.

Actually, I don't think that the armscye should be adjusted for
height,
unless the model has extra heavy arms. It makes more sense to add
below the armhole for height.

Teri

well, I want to thank all the experienced hands out there contributing
to this thread. In a way, I'm relieved to know that there is no "rule"
about it. I ended up winging it and lengthening in the armhole by an
inch, about midway down the armhole, and making compensating
adjustments to the top width of the sleeve.

I seriously considered not making this alteration, but the gentleman in
question is all-over larger than a man of Kwik-Sew's average build and
height of 5 ft. 10 in. It seemed intuitively right to make at least
some adjustment there, because of how evenly the man's height & girth
seem to be distributed. Had I been making trousers under similar
circumstances, I would have lengthened in the rise, and when I realized
that, I went ahead with the armhole change.

I must say, when I finished the shirt last night, it really looked
huge. I mean huge. I'll find out in a few days how far off my
adjustments were. Crossing fingers.

Mary Ann

Dear Mary Ann,

I had forgotten this when I responded before. My first shirt was when
I was in high school (I'm 67 now). I asked by boyfriend his sleeve
length. He told me it was 32. Well, he lifted weights, and had longer
than usual arms, so I didn't question him. Apparently my teacher had
never made a man's shirt, either, and she proceeded to give me
instructions on how to lengthen the sleeve. When it was done, it would
have been perfect for a gorilla, but didn't come close to fitting my
boyfriend after all that hard work. That's when I learned that men's
shirt sleeves are measured from the center back neck to the wrist, then
the neck and shoulder measurements are removed. I don't have a clue
why they're not measured like women's sleeves, but you can be assured I
never made that mistake again!!

Teri

Be sure to let us know the results of your handiwork.
Emily

Well, once again, thank you all for the advice and the pointers. I am
very happy--no, amazed--to report that the shirt pretty much fits.
FITS! except for the sleeves, they are an inch too long. the
measurement I had been given was 39 inches. Anyway, sleeve shortening
on this particular shirt is no problem, it has no cuff.

I'll mention this for the benefit of others who may be interested in
this now or in the future when they search the Google Usenet Archives
-- The shirt pattern (Kwik-Sew 3250) was used to recreate the look of a
vintage men's Beau Tiki shirt, circa 1950s and 1960s, and shown in some
photographs of Hawaiian musical acts of the period, among them Martin
Denny's band. The pattern worked very well for this style, and is
easily customized with trim around the sleeves, bottom hem, or neck
opening.

The shirt was for my "little" brother, a bandleader in the Atlanta
area. I'm looking forward to having a photo of the shirt in action on
stage sometime. What fun this was! Thanks again to everyone.
Mary Ann in Phila.

Congratulations, Mary Ann. And thanks for letting us know about the Kwik
Sew pattern.

Karen Maslowski in Ohio

aeacsharp wrote:
Well, once again, thank you all for the advice and the pointers. I am
very happy--no, amazed--to report that the shirt pretty much fits.
FITS!