How to Attach Cuffs to a Pattern Calling for Hems

  

It is cold here in Austin, TX! When I woke up the other morning, it was 16 degrees out! I know that isn’t crazy cold for a huge portion of the world, but it is cold for us! I’ve lived here for 10 years and I’ve never seen temps in the teens! So I have a bunch of fleece I bought on crazy sale for black Friday and decided to make Quinn a nice warm shirt since he hates the cold even more than I do :)

I haven’t had a whole lot of time lately to sew and I really didn’t want to deal with hemming.. So I decided to just make cuffs on the wrists and bottom of the shirt instead! It is super easy, it just takes a little math :)

I used the Oliver and S Raglan tee again, because I love raglans and it is SO easy to whip them up. I made the shirt as usual, but instead of hemming, I measured the bottom of the sleeves and the bottom of the shirt. Then I calculated 75% of the width and cut a bit of rib knit to that width, in a 2 inch length. To get 75% of a measurement, just use your trusty calculator and multiply the width by .75. For example, the bottom of my sleeves measured 7 inches, so I multiplied 7 x .75, which came to 5.25. So I cut my rib knit to 5 1/4 by 2 inches.

Sew the short sides, right sides together, then fold them wrong sides together.

Align them with your sleeve bottoms, right sides together. Sew them on, stretching the rib knit a bit as you go to fit the cuffs onto the sleeves. Try not to stretch the actual sleeve bottom. Do the same with the bottom of the shirt. I used my serger, but you can totally use a regular sewing machine with a zigzag stitch.

Yay, you’re all done! You have adorable accents and you don’t have to hem anything!!

I would have gotten more pics of Quinn wearing this shirt but this kid doesn’t sit still for a second these days, which is why I haven’t been able to do much sewing lately! Also, I hope this tutorial is explained well enough, I would have taken more pictures, but Millie confiscated my phone (which is my camera) to listen to “Let it Go” from Frozen on Youtube a million times. She is super obsessed. If you have any questions, please ask! :)