Dream of Re-Elastication | The Style Pile #9

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.