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How to Roll Sleeves Like J. Crew

| 39 Comments

Confession… I’m terrible at rolling sleeves. During the fall and winter, I generally just roll the cuff once  over my sweater and call it a day. Now that it’s warmer out, I’ve been rolling my sleeves all the way up (past the elbows), but I’m so so so bad at it. Normally it just ends up with me attempting to roll a few times and then simply scrunching it up so I can bend my elbows comfortably.
J. Crew makes it look so easy and carefree. I finally convinced my friend to show me his ways the other day and it’s actually not as hard as it seems. (Every time I’m with him, I make him roll my sleeves for me… just like a little kid would make someone tie her shoes. True story.) Well, now that I know the trick, I’ve been rolling my sleeves like this every day pretty much. (I did it in this picture and the ruffled edges look super cute!)
I broke down the steps below in a little illustrated diagram:
How to Roll Sleeves | The J. Crew Look

Step 1. Start with sleeves unrolled and unbuttoned
Step 2. Roll sleeve up to about two widths of the cuff
Step 3. Roll again to the bottom of the cuff
Step 4. Roll once more leaving the top of the cuff exposed

photo Roll-Sleeves-Like-J-Crew_zps93bfab6d.gif
Besides the fact that the sleeve roll is actually cuter and neater than a messy, normal roll… it also stays put a lot better! While I would find myself pushing my sleeves up as they fell down throughout the day, this has a lasting effect. Yay for unexpected bonuses!
Give it a try and let me know how it goes!
Don’t forget to pick up some of my favorite J. Crew button ups to practice on 😉 Shop using the scrolling widget below:
Have you tried this rolling technique before?

xoxo
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39 Comments

Christina

Thanks for this amazing tutorial!!! I always struggle to roll up my sleeves and just look a total mess in the office.

Reply
Hannah

For step 3 instead of folding you can also just gather/bunch up to the cuff and then tuck it all inside. That is how I was taught when in retail.

simplyy-serendipityy.blogspot.com

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Keelin S.

I found a video of an old J.Crew stylist showing this on Pinterest last year and I haven't rolled my sleeves any other way since! It really does work and looks great on just a shirt or over sweaters!

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M. Whalen

I worked at J Crew for a while, and we had to walk around the store and make sure every hanging shirt had their sleeve rolled like this- I consider myself a pro at J Crew sleeve rolling!

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Lisa Lisa Lisa

Bah, the secret is out!!! I have been doing this for about a year and it was my "secret" to staying polished… Of course, I shared the trick proudly with anyone who would ask!

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Kayla

Hi! love the blog! Just so you know, I work at Jcrew factory and we just scrunch the sleeves and then roll and tuck to make a flower-like design on the sleeves. Either way is cool though!

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floresea

This is so useful! I love the drawing/illustration too. Carly, could you provide a tutorial on how you made the "how to roll sleeves like J.Crew" illustration? xx

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Christina Lan

HI!

I'm Christina, a writer at Buzzfeed and I'd love to use this gif for a post. Please let me know if this is possible, and if so, how you'd like to be credited.

Thanks!
Christina

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Clara

I love this! Unfortunately, I have thick arms and this seems to make the sleeves much tighter 🙁

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