For my last week’s Project Run & Play outfit for Boys Week, I wanted to make some pants with a cuff.  At first I was thinking about making fully lined pants with a fold up cuff, but I decided to simplify and just make a fold up cuff to attach to the bottom of the pants.  It’s a super easy way to add a fun accent or add length to pants that are a bit too short.  I thought I’d show you how I did it.

First, start with a pair of pants, either an already finished pair, or if you’re making pants you can stop before hemming the bottoms.  You want the length of the pant legs to be about a half inch longer than the final desired length of the pants.  If you are trying to lengthen pants, don’t worry.  Start with what you have and you can add the extra fabric to the cuff.

Cut two rectangles out of your cuff fabric.  Your rectangles will need to be twice the width of the pant bottom plus 1/2 an inch for seam allowance.  The leg openings here were about 4 inches, so I doubled that and added 1/2 an inch to get 8.5 inches (the fabric here is more like 9 inches because I usually cut extra, just in case).

The height will be twice the desired cuff height, plus 1/2 an inch.  I wanted my finished cuffs to be about 1.75 inches, so I doubled that and added .5 to get 4 inches.  If you are making cuffs to lengthen pants, you’ll want to add more fabric depending on how much longer you want your pants to be and how big you want the cuff to be.  You might have to play around with the measurements a bit.  I always cut my fabric big and then trim away what I don’t need later. 🙂

Fold your fabric in half, so that the short ends are together, right sides together and sew along the short ends using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Now you should have a tube.

Fold the top half of your tube down so that the right side of fabric is showing on both the inside and outside of your tube and press.  If your fabric has a top and bottom like mine, you want to make sure the print is facing the right direction and the folded part of the tube is on top and the raw edge is on the bottom (you may need to flip your tube inside out).

Now, with the folded edge still on top, insert the cuff into the pant leg.  Line up the side seam of the cuff with the inner seam of the pant leg.  The right side of the cuff should be facing the wrong side of the pants.

Line up the bottom of the cuff with the bottom of the pant leg and pin all the way around to hold the cuff in place.

Sew the cuff to the pant leg using a 1/4 seam allowance.  You can also serge or zig zag the edges here for less fraying and a cleaner look.

Pull the cuff out of the pants and fold them up.  Press and you’re done!!

Imagine the possibilities!  Now you can spice up just about any old pair of pants!  Have fun!