Shorten shirt sleeves by moving the placket up
There are a couple reasons you may want to shorten dress shirt sleeves. One is if you buy off the rack shirts but the shirts but the standard size if too long for you. The other is when purchasing high end shirts second hand. Luxury brands sell a smaller quantity of shirts at a higher price. In order to minimize their inventory risk, they make fewer sizing gradations by following a one sleeve length per collar size model. When it comes to alterations it’s always easier to take something in than let it out. Therefore, the sleeve length is often too long. Due to the high price alterations are priced into the purchase so when you buy the shirt you have the option to shorten the sleeve. Alterations typically only take a couple days so once ready they are either ship the shirt to you or make it available for pickup. However, when buying designer shirts second hand alternations are not included in the purchase. Therefore, you must furnish your own alterations in order to shorten the sleeves and render the shirt an appropriate length.
There are four ways to shorten a dress shirt sleeve. The most common and disastrous way is to remove the cuff, cut from the bottom of the sleeve and then reattach the cuff. Most tailors, sewists and dry cleaners will opt to do this. The problem with this route is that the gauntlet button will not be centered and you will not achieve the same finishing since you throw off the balance between the cuff and the button hole. The button hole is located two to three inches above the cuff line. The button hole is sewn on the gauntlet while the button is sewn on the underlap of placket both at the midpoint of the sleeve opening. The sleeve opening is five to six inches long which is why there are two to three inches above and below the button and button hole respectively. The overlap extends beyond the sleeve opening usually one to two inches above the placket. It looks like a rectangle with a triangle on top. Given that shortening at the sleeve moves the button a lot closer to the cuff and changes the ratio of the sleeve placket dimensions throwing the shirt off balance.
Figure 1: This shirt sleeve was shortened by cutting from the cuffs leading the gauntlet button to be too close to the cuff and throwing off the balance between the placket and cuff.
The second way you might be tempted is to shorten from the shoulder at the armscye. This however would be ill advised since it affects the balance of the entire sleeve. The circumference of the sleeve changes as you move away from the shoulder and down to the cuffs becoming narrower. This is referred to as tapering the shirt sleeve. This eliminates excess fabric and provides a sharper look around the wrist. If you remove two inches from the top of the sleeve the circumference of the sleeve at the shoulder is a bit larger than it two inches from the shoulder. Therefore, the smaller sleeve won’t fit into the larger arm hole. You could take fabric in from the main body as well to make the arm hole smaller however then that would affect the fit of the entire shirt body. If your goal is to shorten the sleeves you want to shorten the sleeves without having to remake the entire shirt. Therefore, shortening from the shoulder is expensive and impractical.
A third way is when changing the cuffs to construct a new cuff that is shorter in length and in that manner shorten the sleeve length. If you are simply looking to remove half an inch from the length this can be a viable and economic option. However, for more than half an inch the difference becomes noticeable and the cuff will be out of proportion and look too condensed since this affects the relative dimensions of the cuff to the placket which can be visually unappealing. There is another downside to this method which is that you would need to sew an entirely new cuff. If you are planning on changing the cuffs anyway due to fraying that could be worth it but if the shirt is in excellent condition and especially if a more unique fabric is involved that you want to maintain then this is not the ideal method.
This brings us to the fourth and optimal method which is to remove the entire sleeve placket and reattach letting you achieve the original finish. When all is said and done the shirt sleeve looks exactly the same as before as the entire placket is moved up. This is the only full proof method to shorten a shirt sleeve without sacrificing something else about the shirt. At Collarreplacement.com we specialize in shortening shirt sleeves by removing and reattaching the placket. This is a very common alteration. Being able to move the placket up differentiates your average drycleaner from a shirtmaker or someone with shirt making expertise. If you look at your shirt sleeve you will notice the shirt placket is sewn on as evidenced by stitching at the border of the placket. The stitching only extends of one side of the overlap and underlap since the other side is open and usually fastened by a button. Using a seam ripper, you can remove the entire placket move it further up the sleeve by the desired length you want to shorten the sleeve by. The button and button hole are located on the underlap and overlap respectively as so when you move the placket up, they are moved up too. It is important to make the split longer where you will sew the placket again using the original placket. You can then trim from the bottom of the sleeve by the same distance the placket was moved up by. The cuff diameter hadn’t changed to you then reattach the pleated sleeve into the cuff, perhaps adding an extra pleat. The finished product is a shirt with a shorter sleeve length measurement that maintains the same ratios as far as the gauntlet is concerned and is therefore visually indistinguishable. For shirt collectors and those who care about getting their shirts right, this is the correct way to shorten shirt sleeves. The gauntlet button ought to be centered and equidistant between the top and bottom of the sleeve opening and the placket should maintain the same dimensions as you alter the sleeve length.
Figure 2: Shirt sleeve was shortened by moving the entire placket up ensuring the same finish after the alteration.
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