Morning wombats! Here we are on Day #4 of Flop Fixin’ week! Today’s flop, like yesterday’s, isn’t technically a flop, it’s more of a creative restyle using the scraps from yesterday’s sweater project. Boot cuffs!

I’m guessing that this might be of PARTICULAR interest to other cold-weather, ‘curvy-calved’  wombats such as myself. To make these cuffs I simply chopped off the arms of the sweater about 8″ from the sleeve cuff. Then I pulled them on up like odd, half socks. The sleeve cuffs are the ribbed trim by my knees.

Here’s a bootless shot. Sorry for the extreme overexposure on this! And all the thigh action. When I tried cropping lower down, I looked like I had taken a naked-wombat wearing gnawed off leggings photo. So. Not. Cool.

The bottom of the cuffs look a bit raggedy – I serged them for a quick finish, but they aren’t perfect. That’s OK – they’ll be hiding inside my boots! And if you’re a wombat of the non-sewing variety, you could probably just leave the bottom edges unfinished. As odd as it sounds, knits don’t really unravel when you cut them.

As for WHY I did such a thing… well, who doesn’t want bright orange socks peeking out from her boot tops? Unfortunately for me, the current crop of ‘kneesocks’ don’t come up all the way to my knees… they’re more mid-calf socks. I thought that make-my-own cuffs was a fun way to add a bit of color without spending a fortune on special order socks!

[OK, I feel compelled to mention for anyone with similar kneesock issues… if you haven’t already, go to Target and look for the OVER THE KNEE socks – on me those come up to right about where my orange cuffs do in the photo above! Yay!]

I like this boot cuff idea and can think of a number of uses… thrifted cashmere sweaters in great colors but a size small? Might work! Or if the arm is wide enough, go for the ACTUAL over the knee look. Take THAT you ill fitting OTK socks from giant retail chains! And of course, there’s all that potential for color and texture not available in the sock section. I’d love a SUPER chunky cable knit boot cuff! We’re talking fisherman sweater on steroids here! What could be more flattering than a few extra inches of width right below my knees? Amiright, or what. What?

These boot cuffs also offer a lot of extra warmth! Mine fit very well as is, but they’d be easy enough to tighten up by resewing the seams a bit deeper.

Day Four of Flop Fixing Week

Day One: Beignet
Day Two: Revived knit shirt
Day Three: Fine-tuned thrift find
Day Four: Leg Sleeves!

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