How to fix frayed cuffs

When your shirt cuffs fray you may be wondering what to do. The reason this happens is that the cuffs are one of the highest stress points of the shirt. The shirt cuffs rub against keyboard, watches and desks. They are also more likely to get likely to get dirty and rub on surfaces during day-to-day use. Fortunately, it’s possible to change your frayed cuffs to make them good as new. Below, we walk through a few examples of recent shirt cuffs we changed for clients that sent their shirts in.

Before: This Winchester shirt’s French cuffs have seen better days. The cuff is torn at the fold, permanently creased and wrinkled. The cuff is made from smooth broadcloth and was constructed without fuse.

After: A new cuff was sewn on with the exact same dimensions. No fuse was used to ensure that the cuff remains as soft as the original one. Clients have the ability to specify whether they want fuse or not in their new cuffs.

Before: Here the cuff was been ripped off completely. The original cuff was a French cuff but the client wanted the shirt converted to barrel cuffs.

After: Thus, a barrel cuff was added to the shirt. Plain weave cotton was used to match the fabric of the existing shirt.

Before: Here, the cuff was mostly torn off. In additional to being torn, the cuff is wrinkled, creased and yellowed.

After: New French cuffs were sewn on. The fabric is clean, crisp, smooth and unwrinkled. Round double cuffs were used to match the original style of the shirt cuffs.

Before: This herringbone square double cuff has frayed. You can see the threads coming off around the edges, a sign of advanced fraying. It appears to be creased as well and been subjected to quite a bit of wear and tear. While the cuffs are contrast, both the shirt which is purple and the cuffs are made from herringbone fabrics.

After: A brand-new herringbone weave shirt cuff was sewn on. Herringbone fabric was specifically chosen to match both the previous cuffs and the weave of the shirt body.

Before: This is a twill shirt where the French cuffs were too tight, slightly worn out and have lost their form a bit. The shirt was bough second hand and the cuffs appear to have either shrunk of were too small to begin with. The client requested a larger cuff be sewn on to match their wrist size and allow for a watch. The collar meanwhile does not hold its form and is worn out. As you can see in the photo, it just sits flat rather than standing up crisply. The shirt collar has shrunk since the tag says 16.5 inches but when measured is clearly smaller than that.

After: The rounded French cuffs were replaced with the exact same style when constructing the brand-new cuffs. The new cuffs are wider ensuring the shirt no longer feels too tight around the wrist and can be comfortably worn with a watch. The replacement cuffs were sewn onto the existing circumference at the bottom of the shirt sleeve. The new collar is also larger at 17 inches. The collar stays are now removable and the collar stands up providing a much neater look.

Before: Light blue French cuff shirt with white contrast collar and cuffs. The cuffs were poorly constructed with too much fuse. The client also wanted to avail themselves of the opportunity to change the cuff style and jazz up the shirt by adding a different fabric. The collar also lacked stays and is poorly constructed as are the cuffs which contain too much fuse. The collar at 16 inches is too small for the wearer since the client needs the shirt collar sized increased to 17 inches.

After: Light blue checkered fabric was used for the new collar and cuffs to add a touch of color to the shirt. The cuffs were converted from French cuffs to cocktail cuffs which are a rare find. The collar and the cuffs match. The collar has been enlarged to a size 17 while fitting on the existing neckline. The collar contains removable collar stays and sits up properly. The cuff contains fuse but just the right amount allowing it to form its natural shape. The new collar contains removable collar stays and holds up its natural shape.

Before: The rectangular cuffs on this French cuff shirt are visibly worn out. This is evidenced by the creasing and permanent stain on the double cuff along the fold. The back of the collar is also stained and is too small.

After: The French cuffs have been replaced with cocktail cuffs. Changing the frayed cuffs in this case doubled as an opportunity to upgrade the shirt by adding a cuff style that incredibly rare and hard to find off the rack. Two buttons needed to be added on each cuff since French cuffs do not have buttons and so buttons were selected. The cuffs are made out of plain weave white cotton shirting fabric and so they match the shirt exactly. The collar was also changed is now 17 inches instead of 16 inches. Top button can be buttoned making this a versatile shirt that can be worn both with and without a tie.

Before: Here we see a multi-stripe green shirt with green, white and light blue with a two-button round cuff. The shirt is too small having shrunk from its original measurements. Green is a rarer shirting fabric and so the client was motivated to adapt the shirt to allow it to continue to be worn. The edges of the cuffs are frayed.

After: Given that the shirt is multi-stripe there are a few options in terms of fabric color. A twill sky blue was chosen here. The blue pairs with the lighter blue in multi stripe shirt body and well as being as being a coordinating color with green and working well with the white in the shirt body as well. The cuffs were enlarged to reverse the effect of the fabric shrinking. Many folks don’t realize this but the cuff size can be adjusted when changing shirt cuffs which make it possible to either restore the original size or make the cuff larger if the original size was too small. This opportunity was used to convert the cuffs to cocktail cuffs which are much more interesting that a round barrel cuff once can find anywhere. The collar was also made bigger and stands up straight. And voila, an off the rack shirt has suddenly been transformed into a unique creation.

As you can see, frayed shirt cuffs rather than being an excuse to throw away a shirt are in fact an opportunity to repair your shirts and extend their lifetime. Whether you cuff is worn out, frayed, torn, yellowed, too small, too big, creased, wrinkled, shrunk, missing a button, has fuse or lacks fuse we do not shy away from altering and mending your shirt cuffs.