Monday, November 18, 2013

Espresso Waistband Exposed

Steph asked if I could capture the instructions to the waistband in photos so I did my best as I finished up my three new pairs of leggings!

The instructions pick up right where we left off in my last post, Marking the Centers.

“Fold ring in half at CB and mark center front(CF) at the opposite fold."



"Position elastic on wrong side of waist edge, about 1/4” (6mm) from the edge. Align elastic CB with leggings back crotch seam and elastic CF with front crotch seam. Pin in place. At the CB and and CF crotch seams, stitch in the ditch through the elastic to secure."

You can see I serged my edges so I had a 1/4 inch marked all around my edge. This made it very easy to align the elastic throughout these steps.

I tried pinning first but found it easiest to just stretch as the directions said.
"6. Fold over the fabric and elastic to the inside and stitch, approximately 1” (25mm) from folded edge. For best results, try to catch the fabric without sewing over the elastic. … 
Stretch the waistband gently while stitching so the elastic lies flat.” 

Make sure to keep the elastic from twisting as you fold it over. Make a nice tight crisp fold and use your "fingertip knowledge" to keep the edge of the elastic lined up next to the edge of the serging.



My rib knit was slightly puffy when I tried to fold it over so it took some extra coaxing to get it to lay nice and tight and flat. 
Can you see the puff? Did I capture the poof?

I used a small zigzag stitch to finish the waistband and so far it is holding up nicely. I gave them a trial run this weekend and they kept me toasty warm! Hope your legging sewing goes well!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! Excellent, excellent work! :) I'm going to go tweet and FB you so much....

Susan said...

Great, very clear tutorial Emily! And I hope this isn't weird to say, but you have really beautiful hands. :)

EmSewCrazy said...

Yea!! Glad you are pleased. It was fun to do!

EmSewCrazy said...

Thanks Susan! I knew I had long hands, never had them called beautiful before. It's a nice compliment. :)