When our grandmothers were young, they sewed underarm gussets into their clothes. That was a brilliant idea! Sleeve gussets protect clothes from underarm sweat – preventing sweat stains – and mean you can put off washing them for a bit. This gives you lovely dresses that stay looking good for longer, and a happy Mother Earth, spared from too much laundry. I’ve therefore decided to bring our foremothers’ good old tradition back to the people. Read on here for a step-by-step guide to making underarm gussets.
Use sleeves and save your clothes and the environment
When your laundry is dirty, and it often is, of course it needs to be washed. But many people wash far more than they need to. This causes a lot of wear and tear on the clothes and the color, and results in unnecessary water and energy consumption. Many times you can simply wash the dress under the arms, hang it out to air for a day and it's ready again. Or you can sew cuffs into your favorite dresses and just wash the cuffs separately. That way you don't have to iron the whole dress again, which many of us consider a big advantage.
I've sewn countless sleeves into clothes during my career as a costume designer. They are used a lot in theaters. Costumes aren't always easy to wash, so it can be a big help for actors who are always sweating in the spotlight. Some actors (like my mom) don't even want their costumes washed at all. As it's said to be bad luck because you wash the character out of the clothes.
That was a completely different story. Now I’d just like to give you some tips on how to do it – step by step. ANYONE can do it! It’s actually as easy as boiling chickpeas.
Step by step
The small, loose, crescent-shaped pieces of fabric are sewn onto the inside of each armhole with a few stitches – or fastened with press studs. The advantage of using press studs is that you only need to get your needle and thread out once, and then you can simply button the sleeve panels on and off when they need washing. On the other hand, it does take a little time to sew the press studs in properly. That’s why you can easily just attach and detach the sleeve panels as and when you need to with a few stitches. It only takes a couple of minutes. It’s entirely up to you which method suits you best.
Well, what you need to do is:
- The pointedest part of the crescent should be sewn onto the front of the armhole (i.e. towards the chest), and the flatter part of the crescent should be sewn onto the back of the armhole (i.e. towards the back). If it is a dress with sleeves, the sleeve panel must be opened up so that it is divided between the sleeve and the body of the dress. However, if it is a short-sleeved dress, the sleeve panel should simply be folded in half inside the dress to form a crescent shape.
- Sew the armhole to the seams inside the dress so that it is not visible on the outside of the dress. If you choose press studs, I think you should sew the part with the dart on the sleeve and the part with the hole in the dress. Simply because it's more comfortable if you sometimes don't have the sleeves in when you wear the dress.
- Snip snap - done √
Buy sleeve panels from the online shop
Of course, you can buy sleeve panels here at the Ecouture online shop. We stock them in black, white and beige. So you can order the ones that best match the colour of the dresses you’re planning to accessorise with sleeve panels. There are two sleeve panels in each pack – exactly what you need for one dress.
Warm regards from the dress
Johanne
Hello Johanne,
How many press studs would you recommend sewing onto each sleeve when making a dress with sleeves?
Kind regards, Jane
Dear Jane,
We recommend that you place a press stud in each corner – that is, four per sleeve. 🙂 Kind regards, Ecouture
Thanks for your reply 😊
Kind regards, Jane