Gussets

Gussets under the arms are necessary when the garment is tightly fitted either in the sleeve or in the chest or both. They allow some depend some "give" to keep you from ripping the underarm seams out. A lot of people stay away from them because they have been told that gussets are difficult to insert. Not so!

To make a gusset for an already completed garment you will need a small piece at material that matches the garment. cut out 2 squares of material 3"x3". These are your gussets. Take a razor blade and cut the seam threads under the arms of the garment for 2½" above and below where the sleeves join from point A to point B (Fig. 1). Back stitch or tack the seam on the wrong side to keep it from raveling (Fig. 2). Baste the seam allowances down (Fig. 3) and then with the right side of the. garment toward you, lace the gusset piece underneath the hole formed by the -lit area (Fig. 4). Hatch one of the corners at the gusset with the top at the slit allowing ½" for seam allowance. Pin in place. Do the same with the opposite corner. How told the garment as shown in Fig. 5 and the gusset will form a triangle between the main garment and the sleeve. Pin the other two edges of the gusset and baste in place. Slip stitch the garment to the gusset and then take another line of stitches, either hand or (gasp) machine ¼" from the edge of the gusset (Fig. 6). Trim the inside of the gusset and that's it.

To insert a gusset in a new garment, I do the same thing, except that I leave a space for the gusset insertion when I first sew the garment, instead at cutting the seam stitches.

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