Cap Sleeve Tutorial!

I want to give a few disclaimers prior to any of you reading this...First and foremost, I am self-taught, I'm sure there are other ways of doing this out there, but this is the easiest way I have figured out how to do it :)  Second, this is the first tutorial I've ever done, and I did it based on how I learn, and if I can't do something hands on, I need A LOT of pictures!  Those being said, here it is, lots of pictures and my best explaination of how to put a cap sleeve on a shirt!

The first thing is to decide on how big the sleeve needs to be. 

I decided mine needed to be eight inches around and three inches wide, so I will add one inch to both of those for seam allowances. 

Next, I measured these out on a piece of paper.

First the length, make sure to place a mark in the center. 

At the center mark, measure the width.  After this, you will use those reference marks to make a football shape.

Cut this out, and fold in half to even up,

Once you have evened up all of the edges, this is what you will use for the pattern to cut out your sleeves.

Fold your fabric in half, so that you can cut both sleeves at once, and pin the pattern you just made to it and cut out!

After they are cut out, set one to the side, and you will pin the bottom hem on the other.

The next step is to start attaching the sleeve to the shirt.

I found the best way to do this is to place the shirt, right side out, over my knee, fold the sleeve in half to find the center and place the center over the shoulder seam.  This is where you will start to pin

To pin them together, you will fold the fabric from the shirt OVER the sleeve edge.

Once this is all pinned, you need to stitch this part together.

Yes, it looks messy, we're about to take care of that :)

The next thing you will do is flip the sleeve back over.

Once you unfold it like this, if you look at the inside, you'll notice that it looks much neater.

You're going to pin the rough edge under.

I stitched mine from the outside, because I've been using a double needle on this shirt.

Now, on the inside, you have this....

and on the outside, you have....

YAY!! Your done!!!

I hope this helps, and wasn't too picturey (is that a word?) :) 

Let me know if this helps, or if you have any questions, or if you even have a better way!!

Hugs,

heather!!