Stay Warm in Your Favourite Sweatshirt by Replacing Worn Out Cuffs!

Replacing sweatshirt cuffs is usually a breeze with plain ribbing—but what if your sweatshirt has custom ribbing that's irreplaceable?

This week, a polar vortex has brought the chilliest weather of the season! All I want to do is snuggle up indoors under a blanket in my comfiest warm clothes. Interestingly, today is my birthday, and while it's usually the coldest day of the year, it’s actually the mildest of the week at a 'balmy' -3°C - but I still can't resist the urge to stay warm and toasty!!

If you've got a favourite sweatshirt you’re about to toss because its cuffs look like they’ve been through a wood chipper, there's no need to mourn your favourite cozy companion! In this tutorial, I’ll show you how I tackled this dilemma and made my own custom cuffs by knitting them!

Even if you’re a beginner knitter, you can do this! I haven’t knit in over 30 years; if I can do it, you can too.

1. Cotton yarn (we're using two colours - black and tan)
2. 3 mm straight knitting needles and 3mm circular knitting needles
3. Scissors
4. Sewing machine (we're using a refurbished vintage Singer 99)
5. Iron
6. #12 Schmetz ballpoint sewing machine needles
7. Seam guide (get a magnetic one if you don't have one)

Here’s the choice of rib cuffs we found at our local Fabricland. Not great choices. Even if we had found a grey replacement cuff, the ribbing would be too tight for this style of sweatshirt. I didn’t want an overly gathered sleeve or bottom trim.

So I found some thrifted yarn and knitting needles and decided to make my own! I’m using 3 mm straight needles for the rib cuffs and circular needles for the bottom ribbing.

Instead of burgundy and cream, I chose to switch it up the colours with black and tan.

For the sweatshirt cuff replacement, I’m starting with black.

A quick word of caution: when working with thrifted yarn, especially natural fibers like this cotton, be sure to do a pull/tug test to check for brittleness. If the yarn snaps, find another use for it. The last thing you want is to spend time knitting replacement cuffs only to have them break down and wear out just like the originals!

I start by casting on 178 stitches (this could vary depending on your yarn and the size of your sweatshirt). I did a traditional knit cast on for the cuff. But further down you’ll see a better new-to-me cast on technique.

Now do a knit two, pearl two rib until you have the length you want (the video above shows how). The great thing about knitting your own sweatshirt cuff replacement is that you can make them longer or shorter. You can also knit them the exact width that you wish!

The straight needles do a fine job of knitting the new cuffs. However for the bottom rib, I decided to try circular knitting needles for the first time.

Casting On

Because the edge isn’t as stretchy as I’d like it, I don’t really love the ‘regular’ way of casting on I used for the cuffs. So I searched for a better method when it came to do the bottom trim. I watched a ton of videos for the German twist cast on and used that method for the bottom. It’s a bit tricky to learn, but if you go slow and stick with it, you’ll become proficient. I don’t think there’s any going back now that I know how to do it; the result is SO much better! Watch my video above to learn this superior cast on method; I hope it helps you learn too!

The big benefit of the circular knitting needles is no side seams! I watched this video to learn how to work in the round but did the seamless join you’ll find at 7:53.

I used a stitch marker made of yarn so I’d know when I came to the end of a round. Just knit the 2 x 2 rib around and around in one continuous loop.

To prep the cuffs for replacement, I didn’t cut off the old cuffs because I didn’t want to shorten the sleeves. So I used a seam ripper to carefully remove the cuffs. Then I serged along the edges to keep them from fraying.

Iron the edges flat.

To stitch on the new rib cuff, divide the cuff in half and mark with pins. Do the same with the sleeve of the sweatshirt, marking the halfway points. Then place the right side of the cuff against the right side of the sleeve.

Below you can see that the cast on edge (at the top) isn’t as nice as the edge against the sweatshirt. So before pinning, I switched that around so the nicest edge would be seen instead.

Pin into place matching up the pins. Then stretch between the two pins and add another pin at the half way point. Do that until the cuff is evenly distributed around the sleeve and pinned securely.

To stitch the cuff, I’m using this gorgeous vintage Singer 99 that Hubs restored. I’m incredibly lucky to have access to an amazing collection of vintage machines he’s brought back to life! We’re kindred spirits when it comes to keeping things out of the landfill.

Before sewing anything, be sure to replace the needle with a ball point needle, like the Schmetz shown in the 2nd pic. If you use a sharp needle, you’ll make micro tears in the sweatshirt fabric that will develop into holes with washing and wear.

This vintage machine sews like a dream! To set the seam allowance, we screwed on the stopper you see below. The only drawback is that you have to remember to remove the pins before they get to the stopper or they will catch and skew the stitch line.

Lock the beginning and end of the stitch line by reversing and sewing over the stitches before cutting the thread.

Once the cuff is sewn on, turn the sleeve inside out. Then turn the seam allowance away from the cuff (toward the neck) and topstitch the seam on the right side (watch the video at the very beginning to see how).

Now do the same with the bottom ribbing. Because it’s knitted in the round and there are no seams, the bottom rib is easier to stitch on. No lumps or bumps, other than the seams on the sweatshirt itself.

And here it is all done! Just like new again with a fresh new colour combo! The rest of the sweatshirt was perfectly fine – it’s just those cuffs and the rib along the bottom that were crying out for help!

So what do you think? Would you knit your own crafty replacement cuffs to save your favourite sweatshirt?

By the way, I just brushed up on my knitting skills after many years with this DIY charm necklace. If you need a unique craft idea that’s perfect for Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, be sure to check it out!

If you prefer crochet crafts, check out our crochet category.

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