Your reactions & responses to last Monday’s post made me feel so amazing, I know I’ve said this before but sometimes blogging can actually be a really lonely medium, you really never when you hit that ‘publish’ button if you’re going to be flooded with people who know exactly what you’re talking about, & maybe even needed to hear just what you had to say that day, & when that happens it makes putting yourself out there 1000% worth it but more than once I thought to myself, “Yes! This is gonna be a homerun!” & then crickets. After Monday there were no crickets, instead there were hugs & high fives & I think even a few tears. The best sound I ‘heard’ however was “Whew!” a deep sigh of relief that not only are you not alone in this boat but that boat does not have a broken compass, it is heading to a very specific destination & that place is going to be beautiful! And now we know that we will both get there together! Ok, now that I’ve officially met my metaphor quota for the day let’s move on to a project that I’m madly in love with…DIY lace cuffs!
This is one of the projects I made on ‘Let’s Talk Live‘ (11am, channel 8 for you local DC peeps) last week…
Side track: I LOVE doing that show so much, (although I could do with a different freeze frame for the video) I told P on my way home it sounds bizarre but I somehow feel like it’s ‘home’ being there. I’m still & will always be committed to being ‘mommy’ first & foremost but I gotta say, working some feels pretty darn good too.
Ok! So, back to the project at hand, & I’m glad I’m finally getting this up because it is seriously one of the BEST, LOVE all the directions you can go with this! Colors, Metals, Studs…the possibilities are endless. My sister, who’s 18, & is here all week because she wanted to spend Spring Break with us, how sweet is that, she and I whipped up the neon ones today to add to the collection of previously solely golden beauties. I honestly don’t know which I love more!
You can see me make the cuffs live on my TV segment here but below are a few more detailed photos & directions…
There are two options for purchasing lace in a fabric store, either on a bolt or off of a ribbon spool, either way you’ll need barely any at all. If you look at a bolt of beautiful lace like what’s sold in the bridal section of the fabric store try not to let the look of utter disgust show on your face for too long when you see the pricetag. Some of those laces are way more fancy than you or I will ever be. It’s ok though because you really just need no more than a 1/4″ yard, maybe even less. I think the $50 yard chantilly lace I bought ended up costing me $7 & I probably bought more than you’ll need. When you’re looking through the lace fabric keep an eye out for one which has a design that you’ll be able to pull a roughly 8″ rectangle type shape from for your cuff. Your other option is lace trim. It may not be as fancy or come with beautiful names like ‘chantilly’ but that’s also what makes it much cheaper. After cranking out a few of these I also found that it was nice to have the edges that are already outlined for me, all that said if I were you I’d pick up 1/2 a yard of a few different lace trims & call it a day.
Trim the lace piece you’ve chosen to be your cuff so it’s roughly the size of your wrist, don’t forget it doesn’t need to fit too snug & you can always trim it later if it’s too big. Lightly coat the lace in fabric stiffener, if you drench it give it a little wring out, you don’t want too much otherwise it will fill in the holes in the lace. 
Wrap the lace around your bottle of choice, I used a water bottle & actually the spray paint bottle for a bit of a bigger one.
Every 20 minutes or so I’d peel the cuff off & give it another light coating then put it back on the bottle to dry some more. You’ll notice after a few layers the cuff will sit on it’s own without the bottle, but don’t forget, if the ends don’t dry in a circle it won’t stay on your wrist. Now is also the time to spray paint the cuffs, I painted them while they were on the bottle, the gold ones only took one coat but the neon looked better with too. Just keep peeling them off & replacing them so they don’t dry onto the bottle. If they stop sticking to the bottle that’s ok, just use a lightly tied ribbon or a little tape to hold them on. 
Leave them overnight to finish drying, if they’re a little limp now they’ll be solid by morning. Also if you’re going to add studs now is the time to do it, while the cuff if still a little mailable you can open it up & push the stud points through, work quickly though because you don’t want to ruin the shape. 
That’s it! Happy crafting!
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These are awesome! I will definitely try this, but am nervous about them sticking to the bottle.
Also, how did you get them over your wrist if the cuff goes all the way around? Just made it on the looser side?
You know even though they definitely harden they’re still a little flexible & easily open up enough to put on like you would any other cuff. Also don’t worry about them sticking to the bottle, as long as you take them off once or twice in the process you’ll be fine! Not sure if you watched the video but the one I had that really did get stuck wasn’t because it was actually stuck to the bottle, it was because I let the lace overlap on the back & it glued onto itself. Even if that happens though it really is so easy to just trim the hardened cuffs with scissors. I say go for it!!
These are just so creative and look just like the real “expensive” thing. I’ll definitely have to try these sometime. Funny, I just saw fabric stiffener in the craft store the other day and wandered what it could be used for.
The square ring your wearing is also super adorable.
Too funny, I do believe that’s crafting fate! Glad you love my ‘knock off’ ones (:
Yippee! They look super expensive. I am totally doing this. Thanks for posting.
I am SOOO in love with this, especially the neon colors. But more importantly I like that this isn’t just for kids, adults etc. Literally anyone could rock this. With that, I know what I’ll be doing this weekend.
Thank you so much for sharing this, your creativity always floors me :)!
I watched the video and in the first few seconds they did an up close shot of you: your hair is fabulous! Perfect highlights.
On to the crafts: I really like the necklace idea! Spray painting the necklace is genius. The solid color is much more subtle and versatile, I will definitely be doing this craft. There’s such a sense of accomplishment that comes with reinventing something. Spray painting is so easy too, I’m totally going to go cheap jewelry shopping/rummaging through old drawers to find items to spray paint with my grandma, DIY pride is definitely not just for kids. Now to find a place that sells small spray paint cans so I can get multiple colors.
These are AMAZING! Thank you so much for sharing all your wonderful ideas. I thoroughly enjoy visiting your site. As a busy mom of 2 youngsters who loves to craft, I feel I can relate to you. Thanks for doing what you do!
BTW: I found these on Pinterest a few days ago (tried inserting a pic but sadly, it would not work):
https://www.etsy.com/listing/116399661/adult-size-crown-lace-crowns-princess?ref=sr_gallery_6&ga_search_query=lace+crown&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=ZZ&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet=lace+crown
How cool would it be to try these using your lace cuff stiffening technique?
You know funny you found those, I saw that idea forever ago & completely forgot!! Now I know what to do with all this leftover lace. Thanks for sharing!