I had a raglan shirt forever that I absolutely loved. I lost it when we moved a few years ago and I’ve missed it ever since. I made my own version of it and it was, seriously, identical. Sadly, it had a run in with some grease a couple weeks ago, so I decided I needed to recreate it! I’m going to be using the Nancy Raglan pattern (you could also use the Rocket Raglan for you kiddo.) It’s such an easy and small adjustment to the pattern and gives it just a little extra detail that I love.
Let’s get started…
After printing and assembling your Nancy Raglan the only part you are going to alter is the sleeve. You can set the rest of the pattern aside for now.
You want to measure from your collar bone to where you want your sleeve to hit. For me, it was 7”. Next, you will fold your pattern piece in half lengthwise and then measure down the 7” (or the length you measured for yourself) and mark that point.
On either side of your sleeve, at the point of the arm scyth that will connect under your armpit, you will measure down 1” and mark those points.
Now that you have the center point and two sides marked where you want them, you’ll draw a curved line from each side to the center to create the shortened sleeve.
Cut along your curved line and you now have your sleeve piece ready to go. It will look like this:
Now, we can make the pattern piece for the sleeve hem band.
Measure along the edge of the pattern piece to determine the finished width of your band. Mine is a size 2XL and it was just about 20”.
You will sew the band on after the sleeve is assembled, so you will take out the seam allowance out of the band. Also, I want it to be just a smidge shorter than the finished sleeve edge so I’m going to take a total of 1 ½” of the total width making it 18 ½”. I want it to be approximately 1 ½” long when finished, and since it will be folded in half I’m going to make it 3” long. My finished band is 3”x 18 ½”
Now that you have all your pieces ready, you will sew your pattern together per the pattern instructions up until hemming the sleeves.
At this point you are going to add on your bands that you cut out. Sew the short ends together to create a loop.
Fold them in half long ways (hot dog style), quarter and pin both the band and the sleeve. Repeat on the other side. Slide the band over your sleeve end with raw edges together and line up your pins. Sew around the raw edges with a stretch stitch or serger. You will need to slightly stretch your band, but not very much, and be sure not to stretch the sleeve.
You’re all done! Just a small adjustment and you get a new look out of your Nancy raglan!
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really cute. i’m going to try this. the details you gave gives me the ability to try this. thanks.