sewingoflove

So this here is my favorite part of making these cuffs–cartridge pleating! It’s a form of pleating that was done in the 16th century European styles of dress. Even the Queen Elizabeth is seen in some portraits wearing a gown with cartridge pleating. If you need to see a picture bigger, right click and choose “View Picture”. Anyway, onward!!

First, I just want to mention something. You’ll need to make sure you have a good, study thread for the pleating. You’ll be yanking on this thread some, so you need to make sure it won’t break whilst you do. Trust me, it’s frustrating when it does! In fact, using the sturdier thread in all the handsewing for this is probably a good idea. I’ve had pretty good luck with Gütermann All Purpose Polyester thread. I honestly love all their threads! (The embroidery is soo pretty.) Let’s get started!

The ruffles start similarly to the wrist band. Actually almost exactly the same. xD You’re going to make a LONG tube of fabric. Make your cut twice as wide as you want your cuffs, plus about half an inch for seam allowances. Mine was about four inches wide, and the finished cuffs are approximately an inch and a half long. If you want your cuffs much higher than two inches (or particularly stiff/crisp) you’re going to want to sew in some interfacing, so when you press the cuffs they’ll stay straight and pretteh.

Honestly, I’m sure there’s a way to determine exactly how much fabric you’ll need if you want the pleats to run from one side of the band right to the edge of the other. Personally, I didn’t care so much. I used 44 inches of fabric for my tubing. I could probably have made that do the entire width of the wristband, but I wanted shallow pleats rather than particularly full ones.

Like before, pin closed two of the edges. Since this tube is significantly longer and much easier to drift on when you’re sewing, I turned back and forth and trimmed off any overhanging material. Sew closed the short and long end, and trim the corners. Turn your tube inside out and use your chopstick on the corners. Press the entire tube (it’ll be much easier to work with). Turn the edges of the open end inside and pin them into place. Either hand or machine baste this opening closed and take the pin out.

Time for the pillow closure! Get your needle and double-thread it. Angle your tube end so you can see the inside of the opening. Catch a little bit of fabric from one side and bring the thread through the other side, being careful to only take the inner layer. Continue this whipstitch from the same side until you’ve closed the end. Take out your baste stitches and press the edge. Congratulations, you’ve got a new tube!

Now, you’ve got a couple of options. Well, two really. It’s time to mark the pleats, but how do you know at what intervals? Option number one is to mathematically calculate the optimal pleat depth. To do so, take the length of the tube and subtract the length of the band. Divide this number by the band length. In my case, I have 44 inch tube and 6 inch wrist. The 44″ bang minus the 6″ wrist piece is 38″. 38 divided by 6 is 6.3. I could then mark the pleats 6.3 inches apart, but the pleats would be like three inches deep. You can divide this number then in half, or in half again. Then you’d have 1.58 inches between each marking. However, I’m lazy and only just worked it out for this tutorial. I used the width of my thumb. You can make markings on an index or business card if you decide to use the mathematical method to help you keep things in line. Keep your markings about half a centimeter from the end. Make SURE that you begin and end your markings on the very ends of the fabric, or you’ll have this weird loose piece flapping around in the middle of your cuff. Not very attractive.

Once you’ve done this, take your sturdy thread and double thread your needle once again using about twice the length of the piece this ruffle is going onto. I just wrap my wrist with the thread five times for good measure. Since this is also going to be straining a bit, I knotted the end about four times. Starting at one end, make a running stitch along the length of your tube on your markings. I ran my stitch about a half centimeter from the edge so it’d be pretty well hidden by the pleats when sewn into place. When you get about halfway through your thread, you’re going to bunch up the fabric by sliding it together down towards the knot at the end of your thread. Continue on through your markings until you reach the end. What I usually do then is to leave an additional maybe three or four inches of thread on the end and knot off. Pleating! Yay!

This next part can be a little more difficult. you’re going to take your wrist band and adjust the pleated section so it’s the same length. Line it up against the side, so when you wear the band, it’ll stand straight up. Now, you can pin it in place, but I always have trouble with the pin slipping around and pulling out and ending up back where I started. So I used safety pins. As you stitch the ruffles on, they’ll migrate a bit, and the safety pins will allow that to happen without losing your place. I pinned mine on each end, in the center, and in between those three places. You’re going to start under the wrist band, come up through the marking you made on the edge/corner of the ruffle, and pull it tight. Whipstitch it down, using two stitches per pleat right on the edges of the pleats. You may have to readjust the spacing of your pleats along the way, but it’s not a big deal at all. Tie off at the end, and then tighten up the loose end of your pleating thread. That’s it! You’re done! If you’re afraid of the ruffles flapping about, you can go along the other side and stitch down those pleats as well. I didn’t bother. So far it seems secure. Let me know if you’ve got any questions!

Happy stitching!

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