The next step in our Kelly skirt construction is attaching the waistband. It’s the exact same construction on both the pleated and gathered waists, but my sample here will be on a gathered version.
Attach interfacing to the wrong side of your waistband.
Note: If you are using quite a heavy denim and are worried about adding too much bulk to your seams you may be able to skip this step.
Fold 1/2″ (1.3cm) inwards along one of the long edges and press flat.
Lay your skirt down in front of you, open, with right side of the fabric facing up.
Pin the non-folded edge of the waistband to the top of the skirt with right sides facing each other so that 5/8″ (1.5cm) of the waistband piece sticks out beyond the placket front of the skirt on each end.
In these two images, you can see how the waistband extends beyond the skirt on each end.
If you have made a gathered version, now is a good time to adjust those gathers to line up with the skirt correctly.
If you’ve made a pleated version, and have done the pleats correctly, everything should line up on its own.
Sew 5/8″ (1.5cm) from the raw edge.
Press the seam upwards towards the waistband.
With right side of the fabric facing you, grab the top edge of the waistband at one corner…
…and fold the waistband in half with right sides facing each other. Match up the folded edge of the waistband with the waist seam previously sewn.
Sew 5/8″ (1.5cm) from the raw edge along the waistband centre front. Be very careful not to catch the placket front in your sewing.
Clip the corner of the seam allowance.
Repeat for the other side of the waistband centre front.
Now turn the waistband the right way round, towards the inside of the skirt, and press.
Make sure you use a pointing tool to make the top corner nice and square.
Line up the folded bottom edge of the waistband, with the waist seam of the skirt.
As you do this, pin in place from the right side of the skirt.
Here it is from the inside.
Carefully topstitch 1/8″ (0.3cm) from the seam edge on the outside of the skirt to enclose the waistband.
Here you can see that as you sew along the right side of the waistband, it catches and encloses the waistband on the inside. The next step will be the Buttonholes & Buttons! Your skirt is coming together!
LOOKING FOR MORE KELLY POSTS?
Here’s the full list of Kelly Tutorials:
- Sewalong: Pockets and Side Seams
- Sewalong: Placket
- Sewalong: Pleats
- Sewalong: Gathers
- Sewalong: Waistband (this post!)
- Sewalong: Elastic Back Waistband
- Sewalong: Buttonholes and Buttons
- Sewalong: Hem
- Hack: Closed Ruffle Tier Hem
DON’T HAVE THE PATTERN YET?
