BERNINA Corporate Blog -
Of course, you can go all out with your Christmas outfit and use velvet, sequins, glitter or lace. But especially if you celebrate Christmas at home with friends or family, a comfortable or more casual Christmas outfit is also fitting. For example, a nice knit sweater or dress, combined with the tuck-in collar from the Advent Calendar door 6 and loose cuffs to make it just a little more festive. This little project can be made in an evening and also makes a super cute Christmas gift. It is also perfect for upcycling leftover fabrics. Are you sewing with me?
Preparation
For the loose cuffs, you can draw your own rectangle, or you can use the cuff from your favorite blouse pattern as a reference. I chose the cuff of the Harriet blouse from Bel’Etoile. I still had these lying around from a recent project. Cut out this pattern piece four times. Then make four strips for the ruffles, two small ones (4cm wide x twice the length of your ruffle) and two larger ones (7cm wide x twice the length of your ruffle).
In the meantime, finish the edges of your ruffles. I did this with a rolled hem on my overlocker. You can now start to gather the long strips. You do this by setting your machine to straight stitch (1.) and making this stitch as long as possible (5.0 on my bernette). Don’t stitch your threads with a backstitch at beginning and end, because then your threads will be fixed and you won’t be able to gather the fabric later. Stitch two paralell lines on the sewing allowance of the long side of your ruffle rectangles. Stitching two gathering lines allows you to gather more beautifully.
Your ruffles now look like this, for the photo I laid them on top of each other, I did not stitch them together.
The sides of the ruffles have yet to be finished. Fold over the side twice 0.5cm and stitch in place.
Sewing the loose cuffs
Now take a cuff and place it right side up. Place a small ruffle on top of this with the right side facing the right side of your cuff. Then place the larger ruffle on top of this. With both steps, slightly tug on the ends of your basting stitches to gather the fabric into a matching lenght to your cuff. Distribute your ruffles evently. Once you are happy with your gathered ruffles, stitch these in place with a sewing allowance of 0.5 cm and then remove the basting threads.
Your cuff now looks like this.
Fold your ruffle back up and place the other part of your cuff on top of this. Now stitch the long side closed.
When you lay the cuff open it now looks like this. The side seams should now be closed. Pin the ruffles aside for a moment so you don’t accidentally stitch them along with the side.
Now iron the long bottom of the cuff by your sewing allowance and then stitch the sides closed.
Finishing the loose cuffs
Your cuff now looks like this, the long side at the top is ironed, but still open. You can choose to topstitch these or sew them closed by hand. I chose the latter because I didn’t want any stitching to be visible. Of course, you can also stitch the entire cuff with decorative stitching.
What remains now is putting on your buttons and making the buttonholes. In this video the bernette team explains how to make buttonholes. That really goes like clockwork with the bernette 77.
The result
Your loose cuffs are now ready! Super fun to wear at Christmas, but you can also wear and make these for other occasions. The possibilities are truly endless. Experiment with one ruffle instead of two, with lace, different colors, contrasting materials, embroidery or ribbons! Statement buttons are also fun. You can really put your creativity into this with quick results. If you make them too please tag me on Instagram, I am very curious!
Happy holidays!
Love,
Priscilla
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