It's funny how easy it is to trace the origins of  both my craftiness and my pack rat nature.  I was reminded recently that I got both traits from my grandmother.  When she passed away about ten years ago I inherited her collection of sewing notions, and as as  part of my stashbusting this month I was surveying the random items in one of her sewing boxes.  I came across something that took me a moment to identify.  They were collars salvaged off of polo shirts.  I wrapped one around my wrist and immediately knew that I had to make a cuff bracelet!  After digging around in my stash a little bit more, I came up with everything I needed.  Here's how I did it.

Supplies:

• Polo shirt collar, on hand
• Embroidery floss, on hand
• Cameo, on hand or $1
• Beads, on hand
• Glue, on hand
• Hook and eye closures, on hand or $1
• Needle and thread, on hand

Total:  Free and up

Cut the collar off a collared knit shirt.  Wrap the collar around your wrist and measure so that it goes all the way around with a little bit of overlap.  Cut it to that length.

To give the edges a more finished look and help prevent them from fraying, I went around three sides of the collar with embroidery floss using a blanket stitch.  If you've never tried the blanket stitch, don't be afraid; it's SO easy to do, even if you have zero sewing or embroidery skills!  The fourth edge of my collar was scalloped and tipped in pink, so I didn't stitch across it.  If your collar doesn't have a decorative edge, blanket stitch all the way around.  [how to sew a blanket stitch]

Glue your embellishments to the middle of the cuff.  I chose a cameo and a few pretty beads that were hiding amongst my random jewelry making supplies.

Attach a pair of hook-and-eye closures to the ends of the cuff to finish it.  You could also use velcro to secure the ends together, but I have a ton of hook closures in my sewing notions and few occasions to use them, so I decided this was a good opportunity to get rid of a couple!