The T-Shirt Sleeve Hem

I’ve been a pretty small sized person my whole life. That’s not a humble brag, it’s just the truth. I’ve topped at at just a little over 5’2″, and I have a slim build, and that means I know the wonders of hemming pants.

But you know what never occurred to me? All those ill fitting shirts I own? I can fix those, too. Just by changing the t-shirt sleeve hem.

To be really honest, this is started of those procraftinating projects. You know, where you are supposed to be doing something real and serious, and somehow your mind wanders and you find something much more fun to do instead.

In this case, I was supposed to be purging my closet of things I don’t wear. This wasn’t some New Year’s resolution to be more Marie Kondo style. No – it’s more like I live in a house built in 1950, and shelves and closet space are at a premium.

So I came across my shelf of long sleeve T-shirts, the ones I never wear. I’ve tried to get rid of them before, but some hold memories in their artwork, and yes, I know you can make pillows or quilts with them, but I didn’t. So I decided this was going to be the year I let go, and I put them in the donation box.

Aaaaaaand then I pulled one out and tried it on. And the lightbulb went off. The reason why I don’t wear it is because it has those cuffed sleeves, and because the sleeves are way too long, the cuff causes the arm to pouf out and I look and feel ridiculous.

What if I hemmed the sleeves? Is a t-shirt sleeve hem a thing?

I am an absolute believer in trying new things when the cost is low or zero. Here I had a shirt I was never going to wear, steps away from being given away. If I tried it and it ended up looking homemade, I could just put it back in that box.

Turns out, it’s super duper easy.

Carefully trim off the cuff part of the sleeve. It doesn’t matter if they are neat at this point – you just want the old ugly cuff off.

Then line up both sleeves together and be very careful to get them both lined up the same. Use a rotary cutter (and self healing mat – not your dining room table) and cut the edges off evenly.

Determine the length of the new arm sleeve. If the sleeve on the project shirt isn’t really, really long, consider taking it up to a three-quarter or even a short sleeve. You want to be careful to avoid taking a shirt you don’t wear because the arms are too long and instead creating a shirt you don’t wear because the arms are too short.

In my case, I had plenty of room, so I turned the t-shirt sleeve hem up .25″ and ironed all the way around, and then turned that up again and ironed again. Take a second and carefully pin this all up so the seam on the inside of the arm matches the seam on the inside of the cuff.

And then sew the new sleeve hem. I used a straight stitch and did two rows, one close to the bottom of the cuff and the other close to the top, but you could totally get away with one, or if you have a twin needle hidden in your sewing box now is the time to bust that out and use it.

If you take the time to iron and match up and pin the cuffs, you can use your presser foot to line up your sewing – mine came out super straight and matched up the first time.

I was so thrilled with this new trick that I spent the entire afternoon modifying the sleeves on all the shirts in that box.

Now all I have to do is find some room for them 🙂 .

Pin this for when you are ready to fix all those odd fitting shirts lurking in your closet.

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