the shoulder portion of a garment such as a t shirt body in the nominal position of the shoulders of a human torso the vertical support 36 is rotatable about a vertical axis on support arm 34 to permit placing and sewing a sleeve onto each of the shoulder supports 40 the shoulder supports 40 include a horizontal support spindle 42 which support and manipulate the shoulder portions of the garment body when aligned both axle 32 and horizontal support spindle 42 extend substantially along the same horizontal axis each support spindle 42 preferably includes a plurality of elongated fingers 50 which are equally spaced around the support spindle 42 in a generally cylindrical array am adjustable scissor linkage 52 couples the fingers 50 to spindle 42 so that the radius of the array may be adjusted as shown diagrammatically in fig3 the fingers 50 are radially expandable 50 39 to accommodate garments of different sizes and are radially contractible 50 34 to facilitate placement of the sleeve portions over the shoulder portion in preparation of aligning the edges to be joined each finger 50 includes a pair of pins 70 which are extendible and retractable by actuators 72 in the retracted position the pins 70 are below the outer surface of the finger 50 in the extended position the pins 70 project beyond the outer surface of the finger 50 at an oblique angle to each other in the preferred embodiment the distance between the ends of the pins 70 increases as they are extended such that when the pins 70 engage the garment material as they are extended a tension in the material is.