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How to Make a Waistband Narrower

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
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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).
  4. 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.
  5. 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!

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New Pattern Release Offer!

Happy Sunday sewing peeps!

We’re just popping by with a little reminder…today is the very last day to enjoy 20% off our newest PDF pattern –

The Good Times skirt.

PDF patterns, not your thing?

Well, don’t worry! We don’t have a date as yet but we will be taking her into print later in the year and we’ll be sure to let you know!

Thank you so much! 

We also wanted to take this chance to say a big thank you for all your kind words & support for our latest pattern. It’s very much appreciated.

Sharon and Eve xx

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The Good Times Skirt | details

| the details|

We have just released our 7th sewing pattern! Our latest pattern The Good Times Skirt is a slim A-line silhouette and fitted through the hips. It’s a modern and functional reinterpretation of my favourite denim skirt, thoughtfully designed to give you many years of joy.

I’ve designed The Good Times Skirt with a few subtle details …The Good Times Skirt has been designed to be made using stretch denim, I’m all for a little more comfort in my daily life! But I didn’t want to waste that delightful selvedge. So, I made a feature of it with this reverse seam detail on the centre front and centre back seam.

As denim comes in all different widths it can be, at times, a little wasteful to use the selvedge, so we have other options for you that still retain the reverse seam detail. Hong Kong finish your seams for a striking contrast…

Or turn the edge under for a clean and modern look.

And now to my favourite feature…the pockets! The pockets were specifically designed to hold my rather large phone and a travelcard on days out. They do their job magnificently. They are finished with a contrast facing which gives you the opportunity to use up some of those lovely scraps we all have lurking around.

The waistband uses the ‘wrong’ side of the denim making a nice contrast to the skirt body and echos the reverse seam detail. Of course, you may prefer to use the usual side of your denim as I have on my Hong Kong Finish sample. Hong Kong binding is a nice way to neaten the waistband too, making your insides as pretty as your outsides.

A metal trouser zip goes all the way to the top of the waistband for a fuss-free (don’t-have-to-do-a-buttonhole) closure.

And finally, we have 2 hem finishes to choose from.

Use a contrasting print and the faced hem gives a little flash of joy with each wear.

I’ve enjoyed wearing the raw edge finish on my skirt. The occasional trim keeps the ends tidy and the edgestitch (use a matching thread for a subtle design feature) controls how much of your edge will fray. I really hope you enjoy planning the details of your Good Times Skirt as much as I have – you can make it as unique as you are!

 

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the Good Times Skirt | the inspiration

Enjoy to the Good Times | the inspiration

As always it started with a conversation with a friend. This one was about how clothes and fabrics remind us of points in our lives, how they become part of our history and our identity.  The clothes you remember having a good time in. This skirt became one of those items. I have been wearing this skirt for over a year, more like 18 months, road testing and tweaking as I always do. Slow fashion at it’s finest and of course, it continues our ethos of making well thought out practical patterns to fill a need in your wardrobe for many years to come.

I was inspired to make a denim skirt based on my original favourite that I bought from the gap in 2001 (still wearing it – just – ’tis a smidge snug), and the fear that it would wear out and then ‘WHAT WOULD I DO?’. It is a traditional 5 pocket western style (like jeans) but it was very long, to the ground (on me) and straight with a big slit in the front to just above the knee so it was possible to walk. Very dark, unwashed denim. In the sale £9.99. It went in the drawer, came out, went back, it just wasn’t quite right. Eventually, I chopped it off to knee length, used the spare fabric from the bottom and put godets in the side to give a bit of flare so it’s now a very gentle, slim, A-line. And I have worn and worn and worn this skirt. In true jeans tradition, you can’t get much in the pockets. And I really wished it had a bit of stretch for extra comfort, you know? But of course, we can always improve a favourite, so say hello BIG GINORMOUS pockets!

Its very first official outing was a trip to Paris in January 2018 with friends to see the original Dior exhibition – last year was the year we all turned 50.

Then it came on a trip to New York – still celebrating turning 50 – with Mr.M. I’m actually wearing the same skirt/boot combo right now as I type this, a whole year later.

Then it sneaked into my case to visit Berlin. This has been one well-worn and well-loved skirt.

I should mention that at 5’2″ I’m on the shorter side for modelling, so I chopped my skirt off. I encourage you to do the same and make your skirt the way you like it, so you’ll keep wearing it. There are shorten/lengthen lines on the pattern if you are finishing your hem with the contrast facing, but for the raw edge hem option I just cut it off after making (you can trim the frayed white threads if you prefer).

My Good Times skirt has made several city trips, London, Birmingham … Ikea, Coventry. It’s done a shift at Sewing for Pleasure back in March because I needed to use those pockets and I see many more sewing shows in its future! This is a good practical skirt with pockets that can hold a big mobile phone and a travelcard and keeps your hands free. All without fear that they will fall out of your pocket and be lost forever on the underground. What a relief. Every time I wear this skirt, I do indeed have a good time.