Victorian Cuffs

If you could see my workroom, you’d probably notice the pile of scraps that has taken over one corner of the room. I’ve saved all the scraps that are large enough that something could be done with, but I hadn’t actually tried to do anything with them until this week. Over the past several years, I’ve loved the tattered cuffs I’ve come across, wishing I could pay the (in my opinion, overpriced) amounts of money the makers wanted for these cuffs with ridiculous amounts of layers and strings coming off them everywhere. There’s something charming about items made with raw edged fabric. When I first fell in love with these cuffs, I didn’t have the materials to make them, and it seemed really silly to go spend money on something that didn’t take much of the fabrics I would want to make something similar out of.

I recently came across a website with a basic set of instructions on making some of these cuffs, and I realized that now I do have the materials to make these! Or at least most of them. I don’t actually keep lace on hand. Or thin elastic. But I have everything else! And I also had a JoAnn gift card I had yet to spend all of, so I wouldn’t even have to pay out of pocket for the materials I didn’t have. I figured out the fabrics I wanted to make my cuff out of and started making it. Thing is, the types of fabric I decided to use definitely were not what the person writing the instructions used. Whoops…but I made it work! I changed up a few things, and after an evening and a couple of hours the next afternoon, I had my cuff! I loved the combination of the fabrics I used for my hubby’s wedding outfit, purple satin, and black lace, but it was missing something. I thought for a bit what to add and remembered a brooch I had bought from Spencer’s years ago that I had never done anything with. It went perfectly.

So then of course I showed it to Marianne later that night and asked her if she wanted to make one for herself with some of my scraps. She did, so we made this awesomely green cuff! Soon I’ll be working on one for my sister as a present (I’m hoping I’ve given it to her before I post this!), and I’m considering making some to sell in the shop as well. After wearing mine for a few hours, I got tired of it shedding all over me and the couch so I fray checked the edges. I’ll have to find a better solution if I make ones to sell!