A story of making do

My very wonderful neighbor, who I will miss dearly when we move away from our rental, has a husband who has a unique way in which he tears a hole in his left elbow of every long sleeve shirt he owns. She has taken this opportunity to learn more about sewing and together we are mending his long sleeve shirts by converting them to short sleeves. Never mind that the nights have already cooled off and I believe our fall has already begun.

We used a short sleeve shirt that fits him well to take measurements on the length of the sleeve.

Then we fold over 1/2'' and then another 1/2'' to encase the raw edge of the newly cut fabric. I thought this mend would be a quick and easy project but after sewing up my first shirt I realized that the fabric gathers funny, always leaving a pucker which I concentrate on the bottom of the sleeve. I now realize why this happens. The sleeves are tapered and when I roll the edges I get that pucker, but does anyone have a good solution to this problem? I suppose I could mess around with changing the angle of the sleeve. In this case the top of the sleeve measured 11 1/2'' and the bottom measures almost 7''. I also suppose I could make a binding from the remaining sleeve to finish the edges. Or I can continue to "hide" the pucker in the bottom seam. Any suggestions would be helpful. We have quite a few more shirts to hem.

And I just want to thank everybody on the well wishes for our new home! As expected, it's been a whorl wind of activity around here. Moving in bit by bit. Spending over $40 in felt at Lowes to put on the bottom of all our furniture so not to harm the hardwood floors. I think I finally decided where to put the vegetable plot garden. Today I am going to take a break from moving boxes and get two bags sewn up that are needed for a wedding. I woke up to cool, overcast Labor Day morning and it seems like the perfect slow day to get that project accomplished.