Piped Cuffs

The piped cuffs on the button downs in the last post were not included in either pattern and came about because I didn't have enough buttons when I was making the first version. 

I really liked the green glass buttons that I used for the cotton version and didn't want to look for a substitute so I had to come up with a solution for the cuffs. Closing up the side seam and gathering the sleeves into the cuff seemed like a great solution and was easy to do.

However, I kinda upped the ante for the blue & white version because I decided to add piping to the cuffs. 

Here's how I made the piped cuffs ~

First I cut four of the cuff pattern and interfaced just one side of each pair.

Then I basted piping 5/8" from the edge to both sides of one of the cuffs.

The second cuff was sewn to one edge of the piped cuffs.

The cuff is then pressed flat and open - I use an organza pressing cloth and my sleeve board for precision.

The cuff once it's pressed flat.

Then the cuff is opened up and the side seam is sewn closed and then pressed open.

I hand basted the cuff to the sleeve. Then machine stitched it onto the sleeve. I did this so that I wouldn't have pins sticking me as I sewed the two pieces. I used my zipper foot to get as close to the piping as possible when sewing the two pieces together.

The finished sleeve waiting to be inserted into the shirt.

Making the cuffs was the easy part, sewing them to the sleeve was the hard part. Halfway through I wanted to kick myself for picking such a complicated and unnecessary design detail. Between hammering the seams to make them less bulky (yes, I did clip the seams first) and putting the first cuff on wrong then having to take it off...to hand stitching the cuff to the sleeve...those cuffs were a challenge. Let me say that again, A CHALLENGE! 

After finishing the first one, I had to take a minute before starting the next one. However, I'm glad I took the time to add the piping to the cuff because the finished button down looks great because of this detail.

Then I completely lost my mind and decided that I needed to add piping to the button placket too on the next version.

So begins the adventure for the next button down...coming soon to the blog!

...as always more later!