Cuff love

The kids have been pretty demanding lately so there's not so much craft happening (plenty in my head though!). But as I have had cuffs (obsessively) on my mind since my late night session recently, I have squeezed in a couple using my favourite fabrics.


In one (above) I've finally cut into a beloved piece of Marimekko fabric designed in 1960. It has been waiting for the perfect project, and while I don't think this is the perfect project, one great thing about cuffs is that they only use a small piece of fabric and I think they'd be fantastic for using up small scraps. I bought a quarter of a metre of this lovely print back in the olden days BC (before children) when my time was my own and work lunchtimes in the city allowed for the occassional trip to a great shop like Funkis. I still hope to make the rest of the fabric into something like a bag or a panel in an A-line skirt, but for now I can at least enjoy a bit of it rather than let it all just sit in the stash out of sight.



The other one (below) is the Ikea fabric I posted about recently. I love how just taking a small section gives it a very distinctive look. Taking a piece from somewhere else on the design would obviously look quite different. I've been really enjoying wearing it with plain black tops and jeans and maybe a scarf in one of the the colours in the fabric. It just adds a little spark of colour. I backed this one with a piece of repurposed black wool from a skirt I chopped up recently.




In each I have gone with a really simple design where I've sewn the two pieces wrong sides together, sandwiching a small loop of hat elastic at one end, turned them inside out, hand stitched the opening shut then sewn on a button from my button collection. My style is very simple anyway but I really feel here that the simple, clean design lets the fabric speak for itself. I did try to embellish the black and grey one with a small felt disc free stitched onto the front where the button goes, but even that felt too fussy and I unpicked it all! Oh well, trust your gut instinct is always the answer I guess!

I also have plans to 'gather' some scraps and samples from some of my favourite Australian fabric designers and make more. How many do you think I could wear at once? ;-)