Tee Sleeves

I cut the sleeves off a tee and replaced them with long, crocheted mesh versions.

Pattern:
Based on the Crochet-Sleeved Tee by Joy Prescott from the September 2006 issue of Crochet! magazine.

Yarn:
DMC Traditions (size 10 crochet cotton) in ecru.

Hook:
Size B/1 (2.25 mm) aluminum (Boye).

Modifications:
The original pattern was designed for a regular drop-sleeve t-shirt so the crochet sleeves are simple tubes worked from the shoulder to the wrist, finished with an edging at the cuff. My t-shirt had set-in sleeves so I worked my sleeves in the round from the wrist to the upper arm and then began working back and forth to shape the sleeve caps. After the sleeve cap was complete, I worked single crochet all the way around the armhole opening to give myself an even, stable edge to sew into the t-shirt. Finally, I went back to the cuff and worked the edging into the opposite side of my foundation chain.

For the neck and bottom edgings, you were suppose to cut the neck band and hem off the t-shirt and work the first round of single crochet directly into the fabric by punching holes with a size 7 (1.65 mm) steel crochet hook. Well, I tried this at the bottom edge, but I guess the material of my t-shirt was too thick because it simply didn't work. Instead, I worked the edgings separately and sewed them in place. Since I had already cut the bottom edge off the t-shirt, I folded it under and hemmed it back up as I sewed on the edging. Luckily I hadn't cut the neck of the t-shirt yet so I just sewed its edging right onto the finished neck opening.

I also changed the edging itself. It was suppose to end in triangular points, but I didn't like the saw-toothed look. I skipped the picots which formed the points and produced gentle scallops instead.

Other Notes:
In order to figure out how to shape my sleeve cap, I took one of my cut off sleeves and traced its shape onto some graph paper. Then I filled in the outline with crochet symbols according to my stitch and row gauge, using the one inch squares of the graph paper to guide me. To create the smoothest possible slope, I changed the slope-side leg of my V-stitches (dc, ch 1, dc in the same ch sp) from double crochets to half-double crochets.

At first, I was a little bit concerned that the switch from working in the round to working back and forth for the sleeve cap would be noticeable, since the back of the stitches look slightly different than the front. I briefly considered changing direction at the beginning of each round so it would be the same as working flat. In the end, I decided that the difference would be pretty hard to detect in the crochet thread and wasn't worth worrying about. As it turned out, I was right. If you really look closely, you can see a slight change in texture. Of course, no one but me should ever be looking that closely!

When I was nearly to the elbow on my first sleeve, I noticed it was getting just a little bit narrower. I assumed it was my gauge tightening up as I got more into the rhythm of things and that I would have to make an effort to repeat the effect. Fortunately, for whatever reason, I managed to do the same thing on the second sleeve without even trying.

After cutting off the hem and then sewing it up again, the shirt is just ever so slightly shorter than I would prefer. If only I had known that crocheting directly into the fabric wouldn't work, I would have just sewn the edge to the original hem.

Eventually, I would like to find some pretty beads to attach to the ends of the front ties. This will have the added benefit of helping them hang straighter. Right now they spiral a bit.

Final Thoughts:
This was a great way to turn a t-shirt I wasn't wearing anymore into a favorite again. It was also really nice to return to crochet after many years. It has a different rhythm which I didn't realize I was missing since I've only been knitting.

tags: crochet