My arms are covered and I am not hot. I did not know that was available.

On the top with sheer lace sleeves — the only thing I have found that covers the tops of my arms and still lets the air straight through.

By Sandra Thompson · Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

Posted August 2026 · 6 min read

I am 63, and I have not worn a short sleeve since somewhere around fifty-two. Not once, not at a barbecue, not in the worst week of a South Carolina July. Which meant every summer I had exactly two options: be covered and quietly overheating in a cardigan, or be comfortable and spend the whole afternoon aware of my arms.

I chose the cardigan every time, and I resented it every time.

It was my daughter Sarah, up in Boston, who told me to stop settling and look at a top from a small family boutique here in South Carolina. The sleeves are lace, she said. Look properly. Before I tell you what it did, I think you should read the Clarke family's letter first.

The Clarke family runs a small boutique here in South Carolina, family-run since 1986 — three generations, mother to daughter. The top is called the Sabrina, and their letter walks through the handful of things they refused to compromise on. I am going to let their words carry it, because they say it better than I could.

1Lace sleeves cover you and still let the air through

This is the whole reason the Sabrina exists. A solid sleeve covers the arm and traps the heat against it. An open crochet lace covers the same arm and lets the air move straight through the pattern. You are not exposed and you are not cooking. Every woman who has spent a July in a cardigan she did not want understands the difference immediately.

2The body is pleated, not flat

Fine vertical pleats run the length of the body. They do two things at once — they hold the fabric a little away from you so nothing clings through the afternoon, and every one of those lines runs up and down rather than across, which reads longer. It is the oldest trick in dressmaking and it costs more to do than a flat panel.

3The lace at the neck draws the eye up

We framed the V-neck with the same crochet lace and set three small buttons below it. Both details sit high on the chest, near the face, which is exactly where you want somebody looking. The V itself is cut with a small notch at the top so it opens softly rather than plunging — flattering without asking anything of you.

4The sleeve gathers into a proper cuff

A wide sleeve with a loose end drags through everything and gets in your way. We gathered the lace into a fitted band at the wrist, so the sleeve blouses softly above it and stays clear of your hands. It also gives the lace somewhere to end, which stops it looking like an afterthought stitched onto a plain top.

5Smart enough for the occasion, easy enough for a Tuesday

Lace usually means an occasion, and an occasion means the thing hangs unworn for months. We kept the body plain and the cut relaxed so the Sabrina goes with the pants you already own on an ordinary morning, and still holds up at a lunch or a service. One top doing both jobs rather than waiting for one of them.

6Seven colors, and a size for you — S to 2XL

The Sabrina comes in seven colors and the one you see me wearing is the green, which I chose because I have quite enough black. There is a red and a soft blue besides, and a cream if you would rather keep it quiet. Sizes run S, M, L, XL and 2XL, cut relaxed through the body. If you are between sizes, take the smaller one.

The Sabrina, against the tops you've been buying

Why they're clearing it now

They priced the Sabrina at $159.95 when it launched, and it sold at that price all season. But for America's 250th, the Clarke family wanted to give something back to the women who have kept their doors open since 1986 — so every top is going out at just over a third of that.

Mine arrived a few days later in a box on the bed. I held a sleeve up to the window before I did anything else, to see for myself how much light came through it.

I do not usually write things like this. But I had spent eleven summers believing that covering my arms and being comfortable were two different things you had to choose between, and it turns out somebody solved that with a bit of lace. If you have been choosing the cardigan too, I hope you find your size before it clears.

— Sandra Thompson · Mount Pleasant, SC

This is a personal account from a Clarke Family customer. Sandra was not paid to write it. · The Clarke Family · Family Fashion · South Carolina, since 1986 · Free UPS shipping · 30-day money-back guarantee.