There is a box, in the corner of my sewing room.
It is a box whose contents have not seen the light of day for many a month.
Many crafters will be familiar with this box, in all of its forms:
There’s the ever-growing amorphous lump that lies underneath your desk…
The monster underneath your bed… The stuff you vacuum-packed in a fit of organization
and stuffed into your garage in the hopes that you’d never have to deal with it again…
This, my friends, is the UNFINISHED SEWING PILE.
So this is the third and final installment of this mini 3-part series-within-a-series
– check out episodes 6 and 7 to see how I upcycled this top and cardigan!
But today’s episode will show you how I altered this skirt.
I got this skirt back in 2013, and while it fit me perfectly back then – I’m a little
bit rounder on the waist aaaaand it doesn’t fit me anymore.
I can still pull it on, but I also feel like I’m being strangled to death when I do so.
So, my plan to save this skirt is simply to replace the elastic.
With my unpicking tool, I start removing this exposed elastic waistband from the fabric.
When I first looked at it, it seemed like the elastic was attached with a 3-thread overlocking
stitch, which would mean I’d need to snip through THESE threads in order to unpick it
– but upon further assessment the two only appeared to only be connected with a straight
stitch, and the overlocking threads up the top here were only on the skirt fabric.
And seriously – this is sewn on SO badly. This piece is actually something that I got
from an online fast fashion store, and this was before I swore off fast fashion.
Anyway, in order to remove the elastic I first cut through every 5th stitch or so, and then
I was simply able to pull the elastic away from the fabric like this, occasionally needing
to stop, cut through a stitch, and then keep pulling, until the waistband was removed.
Next, with a new piece of fairly thick elastic, I wrapped it around my waist so that it was
slightly tight, but not uncomfortable. Then I cut it to this length and I sewed it into
a loop by sewing the ends together here. For this I used a zig zag stitch, and I went back
and forth a couple of times. Then, I cut off the excess elastic at the ends as close to
the stitches as possible, and then I did another zig zag stitch right over the edges to prevent
fraying. Then, to flatten the waistband down as much as possible, I pressed the ends to
one side, and then I stitched over it on the right-side like this.
And just for comparison, here’s the old waistband next to the new one – you can
really see here why the skirt didn't fit before!
Now, it’s time to attach the elastic to the skirt, and as you can see I’ve got a
lot more skirt than waistband – but that doesn’t matter. I simply divide both the
top of the skirt and the elastic waistband into 4 quarters – so I put pins
here, here, here and here.
Then, to sew them together, I slide the waistband onto the machine first, right sides down,
and then I slide the top of the skirt underneath it, right sides up. So, right sides together.
Then, I do a backstitch, to hold the two together securely, and then, sewing with a straight
stitch along the top, I pull the elastic so that the next set of pins matches up, and
I sew the elastic onto the fabric.
And I simply continue this all the way around the skirt.
Now, there is another, “cleaner” way of sewing this kind of exposed elastic waistband
on, where you sew it wrong sides together, flip the elastic over and then top-stitch
it, and I’ll leave a link to that technique in the description box, but I am using this
simpler technique, mainly because I didn’t want any visible stitching on the waistband.
Now I know I’m showing you how to replace an old waistband with a new one, but you can
also use the methods that I show here in order to make a skirt with an elastic-waistband
with any rectangle of fabric that’s bigger than your waist, as long as that rectangle
is first sewn into a loop!
Now I just unfold the waistband, and here’s how it looks – and now it fits!
Very comfortably so, might I add.
Which is awesome because I don’t know if you noticed but this fabric is great – BAMBI!
Make sure you also watch episodes 6 and 7 of the Style Pile to see how this complete
outfit came together!
I hope you’re all having a great day and I'll see you all in my next video. Bye!
Thank you to all of my supporters on Patreon who helped to make this video possible. To
become my Patreon supporter, go to patreon.com/annikavictoria
Also protip for anyone looking to become a youtuber - NEVER change your hair colour.
It’s just too much for some people.
Just kidding most of you were so nice about my new blonde hair and I freaking love it
so much, so thank you.