Saturday 18 January 2014

How to fix twisted elastic in skirt - Fixed

Fix twisted elastic in waistband


I stitched this skirt for my daughter, but the elastic in the skirt was always twisting and I stopped putting it on for my daughter. It was sad because it looked great on her. I've sewn another skirt with flat front and used the tricks and learning there to correct this one, so here it is how I fixed it.
If you sewing up a waistband with elastic I'd recommend to this tutorial which shows how to insert elastic at the back while front is flat. The same can be applied for a full elastic as well.

fix elastic twisted inside the waistband
I've sewn a few skirts before blogged here where I stitched on top edge of the waistband. It helps to keep the elastic in place. Here I went a step further. I'm showing the steps below
straighten elastic in skirt waistband

1. Straighten elastic:

First I straightened up the elastic in the waistband by pulling the waistband and skirt away from each other. It took a good 10 minutes. Had I put it on again it would twist.

2. Edge stitch waistband on top of elastic and fabric:

I then stitched the top edge of the waistband as close as possible to the edge. Because the elastic in the skirt was tight inside the waistband I had to stitch on top of the elastic,  else like here I'd have stitched the top edge before inserting the elastic which I actually prefer.
Pull as you stitch. Sorry I didn't take with my hands but you can see in below pic.
How to fix twisted elastic in elastic

3. Stitch in middle of waistband:

Do another round of stitching running in the middle of the waistband (yes, on top on the elastic) pulling on either sides so the fabric is not gathered. I have to admit it takes some energy to do that.
I'd normally mark the center and quarter points of the waistband and elastic to align correctly, but since it was already sewn, I had to make do.
There it is finished.
Neat.












The free skirt patterns - gathered skirt free pattern and pleated skirt free pattern both have elastic at the back and I've finished off using the same method.
 How do you avoid elastic turning inside skirts, pajamas?

Thanks for reading. For more sewing tutorials, tips and tricks please refer Sewing tutorials page.

Thanks,
Preethi.

If you enjoyed reading this you can either like my facebook page to get all updates and more or you can opt to receive posts via email. Don't forget to activate your subscription though!

5 comments:

  1. I overlock the fabric and elastic together and used twin stitch as I do not have cover seam machine. Moe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Moe, completely missed your comment. Doing up the fabric and elastic together is the fastest way I guess? I didn't know about the cover seam machine. Only now I looked it up. Thanks :)

      Delete
  2. Did this fix change the feel of the garment? Your skirt looks totally cute. I hate for my elastic to roll like that, even the "no roll" elastic rolls and twists. Thanks for the tutorial.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No not really. The only difference I observed was when you pull on the elastic and stitch on it, it does make the waistband a bit bigger (loose), so if you are making a skirt you'd cut the elastic a bit smaller. Other than that I totally love the finish. The gathers that the elastic creates are evenly spread out if you use the center and quarter markings.

      Delete
  3. I have a few skirts & pants that have elastic waists & thought I could figure out how to fix them. The problem is though, that the original elastic is not only one single encased piece of elastic. Instead when it was made the waistband was gathered tightly, folded over elastic & then stitched in several rows. I think it looks similar to the final picture you posted showing the final child's skirt. It looks like you stitched several rows. I just don't know how replace it, or fix it, because it's so stretched out & I'm not sure where to start. Can you help?
    Thanks so much!
    Lynn

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...