Learn how to change the depth of a waistband pattern
The Bloom Skirt has a gorgeously wide statement waistband.
I’m not a big fan of mealy, mean little waistbands and so deliberately designed Bloom with 6cm deep waistband as I wanted her to feel glamorous and quite formal. Personally, I’m still fantasising about making one in an Emerald Green Silk Taffeta Bloom Skirt. I haven’t found the perfect fabric yet, but it’s a very enjoyable hunt!
But if you feel the waistband is too wide for you, or for your fabric don’t worry; the joy of sewing is that you can customise and personalise your sewing patterns until they look and fit how you want them.
Sometimes you might just fancy a little change just for the sake of change and something as simple as altering the depth of the waistband can give your skirt a whole different feel. The check skirt below definitely feels a little more casual with the narrower band.
I’m a very firm believer that sewing patterns can, and should, be just a starting point to sewing your own style. And I’m massively in favour of any changes to the pattern if it means you’ll use it and wear it more! Luckily, it’s the easiest thing in the world to change the width of a waistband, in fact this might be the easiest pattern alteration tutorial I have ever done.
I don’t recommend making your waistband wider than the 6cm finished width as you’ll need to start adding some shaping to the waistband but, a narrower waistband is a piece of cake.
You can of course just trace the original waistband, change the width and remember to add all the notches back on.
But this method is a non-destructive way to alter your sewing pattern, so you can always untape it and go back to the original width for a different cloth if you fancy.
A note for my fellow short people; you can use the same method to shorten the skirt pattern.
Learn how to adjust the depth of a waistband
Tools
- Your waistband pattern
- ruler
- tape
- Paper/pen/pencil
- Decide how much narrower you’d like your waistband. The blue check skirt has a finished band width of 3.5cm, making it 2.5cm narrower than the original pattern. You can of course make it any width you fancy.
- When I’m talking about finished measurements that’s the width of the completed waistband (or garment) when you’re wearing it and without any seam allowances. The thing to remember is the waistband pattern folds in half, for the outside and inside sections of a band. So you need to remove twice the amount (or the amount twice, depends how you look at it really). A very long way of saying; for the waistband to finish 2.5cm narrower you will need to remove 5cm in total from the width of the pattern.
- With the waistband pattern facing upwards, draw 2 adjustment lines 5cm apart (or your chosen amount) centrally and parallel to the grainline. (The red lines in picture with the shaded area being the bit I’m getting rid off).
- Fold one line to the other and tape to hold in place. We’ve literally folded a wedge out in the same way if you wanted to shorten a pattern.
- Remark the grainline and the centre fold notch and you’re good to go.
If you are not sure about how wide you’d like your waistband to be, before you start changing your pattern make a quick waistband toile and try it on. Think how will you be wearing your skirt? Are you going to a wedding or an event so quite formal or will you be sitting down all day or going on holiday and looking for something more relaxed? Take a look at skirts you wear and ones in the shops and have a little measure of the waistbands you like when you try them on.
What feels right? There is no right and wrong when you make your own clothes, you can decide and change anything!
