How to Add Cuffs to Jeans

While we are finishing up some final details about the next round of competition, we are having some guest posters here to inspire you to make {or remake} kid's clothes.

When we were going through the process of figuring out what our "goal" for this blog is...we came up with "Inspiring others to make and sew kid's clothes."  So, that is what we are here to do.

During the competition we know that our fabulous designers will inspire you, but in the "off-season" we are going to pair up with other designers and creators out there to bring you some added inspiration. (Email us if you want to join the fun!)

Today, we have Alida from I Make Stuff who was a designer from Season 2 (as I am sure you all remember :).  She is an amazing refashionista! She seriously can take any old clothing item and turn it into something new and different.  Now, that is certainly a talent!  You will have to go and see her blog to see all of her refashions.....really great stuff.

And here she is.....with another refashionista project!

Hello Project Run and Play readers! I'm so psyched to be here today! Before I get started I'd like to say that all photos from today's tutorial were taken on my iPhone, and if anyone has seen my camera battery charger will you please let me know? It's still missing :-( Anyway, today I present to you an easy fix to a common problem. Kids just keep growing and their clothes don't. When you realize your little one has just grown a couple of inches and all of his pants are too short (AGAIN!) you can grab some cute fabric and extend the life of those pants.


You will need:

"Cool" fabric 4 pieces 6" tall X 9" wide*

Lining fabric 4 pieces 6" tall X 9" wide

A Scrap of "cool" fabric

A pair of Jeans

Sewing machine and thread

A JEANS NEEDLE (trust me!)

*These cuffs fit my son's pants which are a size 8. Your sizes will vary. To calculate the width of your fabric measure the width of the bottom of the pants and add 1/2 inch. The height of the cuffs depends on the look you're going for, but 6 inches seems to work very well for most sizes of childrens' clothes.

All seam allowances are 1/4".

Cut out your cool fabric and your lining fabric. I used some blue flame fabric my aunt gave me (thanks Auntie A! You're the best!) For the lining fabric I used an old faded black tee shirt that Gabe had grown out of.


Sew together two "cool" fabric pieces, right sides together. Repeat with the other two "cool" fabrics. Then repeat for the lining fabrics.



Press all of your seams open.


Flip a lining fabric cuff piece right side out and insert it inside the "cool" fabric cuff piece (which is still wrong side out). Pin together and sew along one side. That will be the top of the cuff. Repeat with the other cuff pieces.


Turn right side out and press. Zig zag or surge the raw edges at the bottom of your cuff.


Flip your jeans inside out and mark 1/2 inch above the hem on the pants leg.


Now this will feel wrong and weird but go with me on this (have I ever steered you wrong?). Pin the zig zagged edge of your cuff on the line you marked. You want the pants to be inside out and the cuff to be right side out. Sew it on.


Now you have something that looks like this. You may be thinking....oops what the heck did I do??! But wait. Turn that cuff up and....


Voila! Your pants are cuffed! I would tack it down in a couple of places for added security.

You can also add a cool applique to make the jeans really special. If you need help with applique I have a tutorial on it HERE. With jeans I recommend omitting the stabilizer and using a straight stitch instead of a zig zag. You will lose functionality of the pocket but let's be real, that just cuts down on the number of rocks and bakugans that go clunking around in your washer. (Or is that just at my house?)

Now you can wait just a little bit longer to buy new jeans :-)



I hope you enjoyed this thrifty fix today! Come check me out at I Make Stuff for more!

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