what is ease – Modeliste Creative

How do I Increase or Decrease Sleeve Head Ease?

What is sleeve head ease?

Sleeve head ease is the difference between the armhole measurement and the sleeve itself. The sleeve can never be smaller than the armhole, it can be the same size and contain no ease at all, or it can be larger. The difference between the two is the quantity of sleeve head ease. Leather patterns require no ease at all while woven wool garments require a substantial quantity of ease in this area.

Do I need ease in my sleeve?

Firstly there is a lot of discussion out there about sleeve head or sleeve cap ease. Some ask the question – Is it needed at all?

Many believe that it is needed and that around 4 cm (almost 2 inches) ease in a sleeve head is required for a basic block (for a basic size 12 UK / 8 USA). For a regular woven loose fit shirt the ease in a sleeve head can be anything from no ease at all to up to 6 cm. Around 4.5 cm is usual on a fitted blouse (for a basic size 12 UK).

In an industrial setting minimal ease is added in order to make inserting the sleeve easier and faster but this does compromise the fit. The large the size the more ease you require to enable the sleeve to hang correctly and not be too tight over the bicep. Older people require more ease than younger people.

I have studied many a pattern and block pattern draft and the quantity of ease allowed varies widely from pattern to pattern and from block to block.

I was taught that ease in the sleeve head allows the sleeve to hang as a tube and improves the appearance of the sleeve around the bicep line. There are in fact many factors that influence the quantity of ease. Instead of discussing the ease or no ease debate, lets take a look at how to increase the quantity of ease there is in your sleeve head, or decrease the amount. You then have the skills to make your own choice! It is far better to start with more ease than you need and take out the extra than be in a position where you have too little ease and the sleeve is tight and has pull lines over the top of the arm.

Ease in a sleeve head should be planned over the crown of the sleeve, above the notches.

The sections from the underarm to the notches on the sleeve, usually 1 notch at the front and 2 at the back, should fit to the armhole perfectly as illustrated below. All the ease should be above the notches at the crown.

Increasing or decreasing the quantity of ease in the sleeve head.

The first step for both methods is the same – slash in across the bicep line and up the center line, keep attached at the underarm points. Either close out to reduce sleeve head ease by dropping the left and right sleeve head sections down slightly, or to increase sleeve head ease, open up the sections.

Now trace the new sleeve shape, check and transfer the notches to the new sleeve.

There are other methods of doing this, but I have found this one works the best for me. This method allows the width of the sleeve to remain the same, whilst reducing the ease through the crown height.

Keep posted for my upcoming post on the best way to ease the sleeve into the armhole.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

I hope this has helped.

Happy pattern drafting,

Nicola x

Garment Ease – Pattern Ease- Explained

February 26, 2018 1 Comment

Ease – Explained – What is ease?

There is a lot of confusion out there about ‘ease’. I have read some rather misleading definitions on many a web page. Here I will give a detailed explanation about ease. You can also download your free PDF Ease Allowance Chart below –

Why have ease?

Ease is incorporated into a block or a pattern to allow the wearer to move, therefore ease is “allowance for movement”. Ease allows the wearer to breath, bend, sit down and move around. Ease is particularly important in children’s’ and babies wear and again becomes important in older peoples clothing. If there is too little ease in a garment then the “look” of the garment may also be compromised, skirts will ride up, trousers will wrinkle and jackets will be restrictive. Therefore getting the right quantity of ease in your patterns and garments is important.

Ease Allowance Chart Free Download

Hopefully the above chart will give you a guideline for classifying the quantity of ease that a garment contains but lets look at the meaning of ease.

Ease is the difference between the measurement of the body (without clothes) and the measurement of the block, pattern and ultimately the garment that fits over the body.

Lets look at a real example – Using my basic bodice block in the Modeliste Creative Range available on Etsy.

The bust measurement the size 12 block is designed to fit is a 90.5 cm bust (34 1/16 inches). That is the measurement from the size chart I used to draft the block and relates the the measurement of the actual body the block is drafted to fit.

When I drafted the block I allowed 6.9 cm ( 2 3/4″) ease over the bust as ease in this block range, as its developed for a curvy figure.

Therefore if we measure the block itself the measurement will be 94.4 cm (38 3/4″). This is the body measurement plus the ease.

If we produced a pattern from this blocks and made no changes to the block, then this quantity of ease would stay the same. However, usually during the course of making a pattern, we either reduce or increase the quantity of ease as we create the pattern. The extra we add in or take away during the pattern making process is called design ease.

We now have 2 types of ease –

Block Ease
Design Ease

There is a third type of ease, we will come onto that in a moment. The information above relates to woven fabrics or stable knits. If we are dealing with stretch fabric then this is where we come onto another type of ease.

Negative ease

Negative ease occurs when a block or pattern is smaller than the body it is designed to fit. Negative ease becomes important when drafting patterns with over 18 – 20 % stretch percentage. If you are drafting patterns with a stretch percentage of under that amount then you can use a woven fabric pattern.

Adjusting patterns and blocks for stretch percentage and negative ease percentages is a book in itself and I have come across many different methods in my career. That’s a topic for another day!

I hope this helps and as always, if you have any questions or comments then please let me know.

Happy Sewing,

Nicola