What the Heck is an Armscye? A Tutorial

I have been futzing over armscyes lately.

Not really for my book proposal, since I'm def going with the T-shirt apron instead of a smock, but I'm also (since I did all that work for the smock pattern before I decided to ditch it for the proposal) working on some pattern zines probably to sell in my pumpkinbear etsy shop, but I'll likely have a few copies at each of my craft shows, as well.

Anyway, you might remember that I have yet to sew a single thing utilizing even the simplest of patterns. I have a couple of Built by Wendy patterns, but I haven't even opened the wrapper yet. I'm a really big fan of reading instructions or tutorials, or even just looking at finished projects, and then just sort of figuring things out for myself.

And I've figured out that when you're making a pattern or sewing anything you're inventing, the straight lines are no prob. Especially sewing for kids--they're such straight little noodles that it's basically just your kid's measurement plus a seam allowance. Curves, now...

That's another story.

An armscye is basically your clothing's armpit, and a LOT of items of clothing become ridiculously simple to figure out how to sew if you can just get that one curve:

Easiest way? Copy it from a shirt or dress you already like and that fits well. If you lay the clothing out really flat, you can actually place a piece of typing paper over the armpit area and use a pencil to draw the curve, feeling where the seam sticks out a little. You'll probably need to draw a couple of different armscyes, say one from a T-shirt, one from a fitted top, and one from a dress, because we like our armpits to fit differently depending on the item.

Easier way? Use a pattern drafting template, like Short Kutzor, if you really know what you're doing, a patternmaker software program.

Harder way? Get a piece of wire or bendable ruler that will hold its curve and bend it around your armpit, then trace that curve.

Then make something goofy for your kid:

In other news, this is unrelated to anything and is also pretty offensive, BTW, but I cannot get over the awesomeness that is Why the Frak Do You Have a Kid? It's really bad, like snapshots of groups of smiling pregnant fourteen-year-olds in prom dresses and goth guys holding babies while playing video games, etc.--you know how much I love parenting train wrecks (Hello, Toddlers and Tiaras!). Check out the entry for April 3--I started screaming out loud and basically could not stop for a Really. Long. Time.

It got to the point in which I was drinking a glass of ice water, and I'd have to consciously take a drink, swallow, and then put the glass to the side before I pulled up a new photo.

I'm such a cliche.