# Cuff Design

Currently, there are two different cuff groups in Garment Designer; Tailored Wrist Cuffs and Barrel Cuffs. Both cuff styles are created by using your wrist measurement and adding ease.

Tailored Wrist Cuffs

The Tailored Wrist Cuff is a traditional cuff that is button-closed to fit at the wrist. A few style options are available. When you choose this style in the program (achieved by utilizing the Cuffs option in the Extras menu), a cuff will appear and the lower sleeve will shorten. You will see that the Sleeve Length style menus disappears, as this is controlled automatically by the cuff style menu. The tailored wrist style cuff is designed to work with all styles in the Sleeve Style menu and most of the styles in the Sleeve Shape menu. The most traditional combination would be the Set-In sleeve style combined with the tapered sleeve shape. The display of the cuff is dictated by the presence of a sleeve, thus if you want to see both left and right cuffs you will need to display both sleeves on the screen.

When you choose a tailored wrist cuff, note how the sleeve shortens to allow for the cuff. If you look at the tapered sleeve style, you will see several markings on the lower sleeve. The black line indicates where a ‘slit’ should be placed and cut. You will need to cut a strip of fabric to bind the slit. The gray lines are markings that can be used as a guide for folding and stitching pleats. You will only see pleat or fullness markings on the slimmer sleeve shapes. Once a sleeve reaches a certain width, it is presumed you will be gathering its fullness into the cuff.

Checking Fit

You may want to observe the cuff width measurement and use a measuring tape to determine how snug or loose this will fit your wrist (do not include the extension measurement). The cuff height is controlled by your arm length, so if you want a deeper or narrower cuff, you will need to make point adjustments to both the cuff and the lower sleeve.

Attaching the Cuff

Consult your Garment Designer manual and a good sewing book for instructions on how to attach the cuff.

Explore the variations of the tailored cuff. Although all styles display a slit on the back sleeve, you do not need to cut/utilize this if you widen the cuff to easily slip over your hand. In all cases, you will need to gather or pleat the excess fabric in the sleeve into the cuff.

Barrel Cuffs

The Barrel Cuff differs in that it is simply a rectangular band of a given width and height, that is to be attached to the bottom edge of the sleeve. These cuffs can work with all lengths of sleeves, however, only the wide barrel cuff shortens the sleeve slightly to accommodate the height of the cuff. Some blousing is allowed for all styles. If you edit a band height, you may want to edit the sleeve length (dependent upon the desired look).

The cuff width is dictated by either your wrist measurement or your upper arm measurement (dependent upon the chose sleeve length ). The various cuff heights (narrow, medium and wide) are dictated by your arm length. Feel free to edit and change both of these. Once again, use a measuring tape to determine how snug or loose these cuffs will fit and adjust according to your personal taste.

Cuff Caution

Although Designer allows you to create any combination of sleeve style and shape with a cuff, there are some combinations that either need additional tweaking, or really shouldn’t be combined with a cuff. Use your common sense. The scalloped sleeve shapes found in Style Set 2 are examples of styles that cannot work with a cuff. Attached sleeves (found in the Armhole Style menu) do not work with cuffs. If you really want a cuff for an attached sleeve you can creatively achieve it, by shortening the attached sleeve at the wrist and noting the measurement at the wrist. Build a traditional sleeve with the same wrist opening and use the cuff from this on your attached sleeve. Do remember that a slit is generally necessary for you to get your hand through the opening.

Symmetry and Cuffs

Note: The Symmetry feature does not function within a given cuff piece but it does work between left and right sleeve cuffs.