Dolman Sleeve

I love the dolman sleeve, though I was sad to find that googling the term did not bring up very much in the way of specifics. In fact, many of the links were to well-known stores that had a selection of tops with various renditions of flowy sleeves. These hardly represent the many design and style options that I find the dolman style sleeve to open up.


When knitting a dolman sleeved sweater, I typically just cast on a bunch of new stitches once I have reached the under arm. In the crudest application, this would make the sleeve perfectly perpendicular. In most cases, I soften this up a bit with some gradual increases before the big cast on. Here are some of my favorite benefits to this style:

1. Easy seamless knitting! Cast on at the bottom of a sweater, knit up to the under arms, cast on sleeve stitches and keep on knitting. While one would have to switch from knitting in the round to knitting flat for the sleeves, I still find this a very quick and easy process. I have even been known to provisionally cast on my sleeve stitches so on the other side I just pick up and knit. That eliminates the need to sew a seam on the underside of the arm, and of course a three needle bind off at the should eliminates sewing that seam as well.

2. One could knit flat rectangles and sew them together to create a sweater. No joke! If you can sew a garter stitch scarf, and you aren't afraid to sew a few seams, then you've got yourself a sweater.

3. This is the biggest factor in my love affair with the dolman sleeve. LACE. Because the sleeves are knit straight with the body of this sweater style, lace patterns can continue uninterrupted. With other sweater styles the sleeves are knit as tubes making the join at the shoulders less seamless with a more patterned lace stitch. I love knitting lace, and I love knitting sweaters. So for me this is the ultimate in sweater template for playing with lace panels, all over lace patterns, and maybe someday some elaborate Estonian inspired stitches.