Check out this simple gusset sewing guide and you will never have to throw your favorite pieces again! It will help you learn to alter a dress by a gusset or to sew a gusset underarm. This sewing technique helped save my vintage blouse and jacket with damaged underarm. Follow the gusset tutorial and learn to sew a gusset!
Gusset Sewing: How to Sew a Gusset to Garments
Things you will need for gusset sewing:
- A piece of fabric
- Sewing needle and thread
- Tape measure
- Pair of Scissors
- Sewing machine
Step 1: Remove the Stitching
When your garments are too tight, you can simply add a gusset for extra space. Gussets are the little triangular pattern piece added to a garment. The main purpose of a gusset is to expand some parts of your pants, dress, shirts, and other clothing items–giving the wearer more room to move.
For this gusset tutorial, we will try adding a gusset to a blouse or a garment. Remove the stitching on the area where you want to add the gusset. Turn the sleeve to the wrong side and backstitch the ends of the ripped seam so the sleeve doesn’t come undone.
Tips:
- The fabric used for gusset should be exactly the same as the clothing.
- Pay attention to how much fabric you need for your gusset.
- Gusset should be added subtly on the clothing. Make sure it doesn’t bulge out.
Step 2: Clip the Seam
Clip right up to the seam where you stopped the backstitch (make sure to avoid cutting out the thread). By doing that, you release the seam allowance so you can start working on that area to add your gusset.
Step 3: Measure the Upper Width and Length
Pull the garment apart and measure the space you need for the gusset. Then, measure the length from the top of the garment down to where you clipped or stop.
Tips:
- Notice the shape of the fabric because that will be the shape of your gusset.
- Always add half an inch wider and longer for the seam allowance.
Step 4: Draw and Cut the Gusset on the Fabric
Take the fabric for your gusset and draw the shape using your measurements. It is easier to draw a center line of the gusset, fold it in half, and mark the fabric according to the sizes. Don’t forget your 5/8″ seam allowance, before cutting the fabric. Also, draw a line or marks for easy cutting.
Step 5: Pin the Gusset in Place
Turn the garment piece over and pin the gusset in place facing right sides together.
Tip: Pin the triangular fabric to the area you want to add a gusset into. The triangular fabric with longer sides should be pinned to the sides of the clothing, while the narrow side would be attached at the top or bottom area.
Step 6: Sew the Gusset
When you start sewing, put the needle down at the tip where you reinforce the bottom of the seam. Sew the gusset beginning from the bottom right straight up the end. Do the same on all sides of the gusset.
Tip: Make sure the edges line up well to make it unnoticeable and look more polished. When the edges don’t line up, you need to remove the stitches and do it again.
There are so many ways to insert gussets to your garments. For more visual instruction about gusset sewing, check out this video by Niler Taylor:
Gusset helps you save garments with too tight areas or damaged underarm. Sewing a gusset can be intimidating but if you follow the instructions carefully, adding gussets to your garments will be a breeze. Aside from the armhole gusset, there are also so many uses of a gusset. You can add them to other sewing projects like pants or bags. Gusset sewing is seriously one of the best sewing hacks to learn and master!
Have you tried adding a gusset to your sewing project? Let us know how it went in the comments section below!
Up Next: How To Sew Placket On A Sleeve | Sewing Tutorial
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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on April 5, 2017, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.
How do you determine how much gusset is needed?
I just started sewing again. I learned in jr high school when they still taught it in school. Yes I’m in my 40s. I saw a gusset in the armpit of one of my husband’s favorite shirts and thought it would be something nice to incorporate into the dress shirt I’m making for my son. Thanks for showing me how. I really appreciate the tutorial.
Looking for a suggestion or confirmation on a way to alter my son’s dress shirt. He is very short with very short arms, but needs a large size. Because of this, when we buy dress shirts, the sleeves are so long they need to be taken up by 6-8 inches. So far, I have been taking off the placket and cuff, cutting the excess fabric off, taking the sleeve in and then reattaching the placket and cuff. My Mom suggested taking the sleeve off, cutting off the excess fabric at the shoulder, and then adding a gusset to make the new shoulder area large enough to fit in the arm hole. That seems like it would be less work, but I wanted another opinion. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
have a kid with the exact same fitting challenge and opted to take the sleeve out of the armhole and shorten it from the top. I marked the 5″ I needed to shorten at the top center and and the sleeve side seam, then used the other sleeve for a pattern to trim off the unneeded length. It won’t work to trim off the same number of inches around the sleeve cap! Then, since the sleeve was too small to fit in the armhole, I use the fabric I cut off the top of the sleeves to make a 2-piece gusset for each sleeve piece. I sewed the gussets to each side of the sleeves, then re-inserted the sleeves and re-sewed the side seams. It’s a bit tricky if the side seam is flat felled, but I still think it’s easier than removing the cuff, which I’ve done at times. Lin
Thank you for the tutorial on gussets. It was clear and easy to follow. I will be inserting gussets in a rhomboidal shape in the underarm of my new pajamas. I’m excited to get started. Thank you!