On the subject of historic armscyes

Basting in my sleeves led me to two important conclusions about historic armscyes....

1. They are tiny and fiddly compared to modern armscyes.
2. They are best handsewn.

Although I'm not one to just do handsewing for the historical sake of it, I won't be bothering to put this part of my clothing near a machine. It's a case of saving yourself a mountain of aggravation by doing it right the first time. To handstitch these will take only a few minutes longer than wrestling with a machine anyway and the chances of needing to unpick and redo is much reduced.
Half the enjoyment of sewing, I've discovered, is learning which way is the easy way. It's not always apparent.