Where the Shoulder Seam Should Sit

FIT

Chest measurement gets all the attention when people size knitwear, and it is the wrong first question. A sweater that fits in the chest and sits wrong at the shoulder will pull across the back, restrict your reach, and look off in a way that is hard to name. The shoulder decides more than any other single point, and it is easy to check.

Three Ways a Sleeve Gets Attached

Set-in. The sleeve is joined in a rounded seam that runs over the top of the shoulder. It gives the most defined shoulder line and the least room for error, because the seam has a correct place to be.

Drop shoulder. The body extends past the shoulder and the seam sits somewhere down the upper arm on purpose. The line is softer and the fit is relaxed by design.

Raglan. The sleeve runs in a diagonal seam from the underarm to the neckline, so there is no shoulder seam at all. It is the most forgiving of the three across different shoulder widths and it opens the neckline slightly.

The Check, on a Set-In Sleeve

Stand normally with your arms hanging down. Run a finger along the top of your shoulder until you feel the bone end and the arm start to curve away. The seam should sit on that point, or within about half an inch outside it.

Inside that point and the sweater is narrow through the shoulders. You will feel it when you reach forward, because the fabric has to borrow width from across the back and it pulls into diagonal lines from the shoulder blades. Far outside it and the armhole hangs low, the sleeve gathers into folds at the top, and the whole piece reads as one size too large even if the chest is right.

Why Sizing Up Rarely Fixes a Shoulder

Grading between sizes adds far more to the chest than it adds to the shoulder width, so going up a size to solve a tight shoulder mostly gives you a roomier body with the seam still slightly inboard. It is usually better to look for a different construction: a drop shoulder or a raglan in your normal size will solve the reach problem that a set-in sleeve created.

Reading a Drop Shoulder Correctly

Because a drop shoulder is meant to sit down the arm, the question is how far down. Two to three inches past the shoulder point reads as a relaxed fit. Much more than that and the sleeve head starts collecting fabric in the armpit, which shortens your effective reach even though the garment is bigger.

Sleeve length follows from this. A drop shoulder uses part of its sleeve measurement getting to the actual shoulder, so a stated sleeve length on a drop shoulder piece is not comparable with the same number on a set-in sleeve. Check the total from the neck instead, if it is given.

What This Means When You Cannot Try It On

Measure across the shoulders of a sweater you already own and like, seam point to seam point, with the piece lying flat. That one number transfers between garments more consistently than a body measurement, because it describes the thing itself. Add the construction type to it and you have almost everything you need.

Our FAQs page collects the sizing questions that come up most, and it says where each measurement is taken from.

Thank you for shopping with us, and for keeping good knitwear in the rotation.