DIY Stirrup Ankle Cuffs
Who doesn't love a good set of ankle cuffs? Usually they're made of leather, which I will eventually work with in these posts. But for the first few projects I really wanted to focus on materials that you probably already have at home, which are easy to work with and yield reasonably fast results.
As such, I set about making these cuffs with only materials I had in my craft supplies already. The design I came up with is easy to adjust to the materials you have on hand.
Materials
Fabric (I recommend something fairly durable)
Edging material- I lined the whole exterior, but you could easily do just the loops at the end.
Thread
Tools
Sewing needles
Scissors
Measuring tape
Getting Started
Piece A: Begin by measuring your ankle. Remember that you'll be leaving a seam allowance, so add whatever is comfortable for you to work with. I chose 1/2 inch seam allowance, therefore adding 1 inch to the measurement.
Piece B: Measure underneath your foot, preferably in the kind of shoes you plan to be wearing. Make sure to measure from the placement of the ankle measurement you took before. Don't forget your seam allowance.
Decide how wide you want them to be. (Mine are 1 and 3/4 inches wide, so Piece A is 10 x 2 and 1/4 inches and Piece B is 12 by 2 and 1/4 inches)
Basic Shape
Apply your measurements to the fabric. I chose to have two layers, so I needed four pieces of each piece.
Pair off the pieces (so you have two sets, so to speak) and sew them together along the long edge.
Each pair should now form a tube. Turn them inside out.
Iron each tube to create clean, sharp edges.
Pin Piece B into a U-shape starting roughly halfway along Piece A.
Adding the Loops:
Add one loop on each side of the Piece A. Keep in mind, one loop will be threading through the other, so you will want that loop to be slighting longer. I initially used ribbon (as you can see in the photo on the left) but became worried that it wouldn't be durable enough for the task at hand. Be sure that whatever you choose, you sew it in place thoroughly.
2. Optional: I added a little edging material all around the boarder for texture/ visual appeal.
You're done!
Now lock those babies together and have a blast!
Notes on future projects:
I saved this for the end because I detest DIY's that start with lengthly explanations and statements from the creator. BUT I do want you to be aware that some changes are on their way.
In the future, I will be using contrasting color threads so that you can more easily see what I'm doing. I will also try to use some colors for fabric other than black, as it's difficult to see.
Patreon members will be getting some sweet perks! If you donate a few dollars per post on Patreon, you'll have access to patterns for sewing projects and exclusive photos of the Crafty projects and sexy people wearing them.
I would love to start a gallery of your results from my tutorials, so feel free to send me your picts!
If you've made it this far, thanks for sticking it out! My big gushy heart loves you all! Thanks for the support getting this project started. It's been a blast so far and I bet it's only ganna get better from here.
-Charlie
