In the clothing industry, "petite" cuts off at 5'3". That means that those of us who never managed to get that tall are left out in the cold with ill-fitting shirts. Although I'd be surprised if petite shirts actually did fit a 5'3". If you are really short like me, you probably find coats and shirts made of woven fabrics incredibly uncomfortable. It feels like there's a rope around your biceps whenever you try to raise your arms as your sleeves cut into your upper arms. And you've probably noticed how the shirt pouches out above your bust because there's too much fabric there.
The clothing industry apparently assumes that ALL people who wear a given size will have the EXACT SAME bust-to shoulder length. For us short folks, this translates into sleeve caps that are way too long and side seams stopping 2 or 3 inches below our armpits. The solution is both simple and secret. Amazingly, alteration books largely skip right over it. All you have to do is shorten your pattern between the bust and shoulder and reduce your sleevecap by a corresponding amount. Redraw your cutting lines and you're ready to go. You'll find that necklines are far more tolerable as well. The method that worked best for me was to remove enough material above the bust to bring the top of the side seam to within 2 fingers' widths of my armpit. Your pattern's neckline will probably help you determine the best place to make the alteration. The armscye seems pretty flexible about placement but you may want to put it above the sharpest part of the curve to make redrawing the cutting line easier.
I have tried this alteration on a fitted shirt with a one-piece bodice front and it worked well, but I haven't been able to satisfactorily work out how to do this on princess seams. My fear is that I won't redraw the curved seams correctly but I haven't actually tried.
