What are Armholes?

An Armhole is the round opening in a garment from where a person can move his/her arm out from the garment. It is necessary to add an armhole in the garment because without an armhole the wearer cannot wear the dress properly.

• A garment can have different types of armholes, like:

Fitted standard armhole: A Fitted standard armhole is an armhole without sleeves attached and it is fitted close to the wearer’s arm.

Lowered with sleeve: The sleeves are attached to the garment through an armhole, it can be any type of a sleeve depending upon the design of the garment.

Exaggerated or Deep Cut Armholes: These are generally present in the garment to be worn on layers of clothing. It can be made by making a deep cut into the armhole and later if a sleeve is attached to the garment then it is attached through armhole but need some modification while doing an attachment.

Dropped Armhole:  In Dropped armholes the shoulder is dropped which means the shoulder line is extended from the actual line so that it hangs from the armhole. It is more commonly used in garments tailored for women.

Often, sleeves are attached to a garment to finish the garment design these sleeves which are attached to the armhole can be of different types. If you want to design a custom outfit then here’s a list of different types of sleeves you could opt for.

• Set-in-sleeves: When the sleeve is attached to the round of the armhole. The set-in-sleeves is further classified as:

a) Plain sleeve: This kind of sleeve is a basic sleeve in which there is not much variation, it is simply added to the armhole and does not need any modification.

b) Puffed sleeve: In which there is a variation or gathers at the top as well as at the bottom of the sleeve. The length of the puffed sleeve is generally 1/4^th of the arm.

c) Leg-o-mutton: It is a variation of puffed sleeve, it is similar to it but longer than puffed sleeves and there are no gathers at the bottom of leg-o-mutton sleeve.

d) Bell sleeve: A Bell sleeve is flared at the lower edge and fitted from the shoulder edge which forms a shape of a bell.

e) Petal sleeve: Where the lower part is cut in the form of petals and 2 cut fabrics give the effect of petals in the sleeve.

• Sleeve bodice combination: A Sleeve which starts from the neckline and continues through the normal length of sleeves. There are few sleeve bodice combinations, such as:

a) Kimono sleeve:  A kimono sleeve is stitched as one piece without any armhole and a gusset is introduced to improve its durability.

b) Raglan sleeve: A Raglan sleeve has diagonal stitching lines and it is preferable for sportswear or an ideal choice for garments made for the elderly.

c) Saddle Sleeve: A saddle sleeve is similar to raglan sleeve but there is small yoke in its construction.

d) Dolman sleeve: Dolman sleeves are attached to deep cut of the armhole and allow the wearer to move her hand easily.

Love,

Proofread and Edited by Samara Vivian