Off the Cuff

I guess it’s not a secret that I’m a tad infatuated with ruffles. But, did you also know that I have a crush on ruffle’s older cousin, the pleat? I think pleats are just a bit more dignified, but still plenty of fun. Of course, being more mature, pleats are also more intimidating. Ruffles take hardly any skill to create, but pleats require a little precision. Still, I was dying to try them, so I decided to start with a small project, a simple, pleated cuff bracelet.

I’ve hardly taken the thing off for three days, so I think I’ll call it a success! To make one you need fabric (about a yard in length and an inch or so wide. Treat cut edges with stop fray or clear nail polish), elastic, and felt or a little extra fabric.

Start by creating your base. You want this to be thinner than your pleats and just barely too short to wrap all the way around your wrist. I would suggest making this from felt or a heavy fabric. If you would like to waste an hour of your life, you can do what I did and make a skinny fabric tube instead. Sewing the tube was easy, turning it right side out made me want to cry, bang my head on something, and laugh – all at the same time. It would have been much easier to just use a strip of heavy fabric.

Once you have your base, pin your long strip of fabric to one end. Pin and pleat until you reach the end of the base.

Sew right down the middle of the pinned pleats. I opted to use thread in a contrasting color.

Cut a strip of elastic about two centimeters long and use a zig zag stitch to sew to the wrong side of each end of the cuff.

Stretch over your wrist and enjoy! I’m linking this to DIY Day at Kimba’s :-)

<3
Hattie