Adjusting a Skirt Waistband

What you will learn

• Splitting a reduction between two side seams
• Sewing through a waistband
• Tapering a new seam into an old one

Materials and tools

• Skirt
• Pins
• Tailor's chalk
• Measuring tape and seam gauge
• Hand-sewing needle and contrasting thread for basting
• Matching all-purpose thread
• Sewing machine with a universal needle 80/12, or a hand needle for backstitch
• Iron, ironing board and press cloth

Before you start

• Look inside the skirt. This method needs two side seams with no zip in them. If the zip is in a side seam, only the button or hook can be moved, or the skirt needs a tailor.
• If the skirt is lined, the lining must be taken in at its own side seams by the same amount. Treat that as a second, separate job, or use a tailor.

1. Put the skirt on and fasten it. Pinch the spare fabric at one side seam until the waist is comfortable, and have a helper pinch the same at the other side. Sit down to check you can still breathe and bend. Measure the total amount to remove from the waist.
2. Up to 1/2 in (12 mm) in total: move the fastening only. Mark the new button or hook position with chalk while the skirt is on, unpick the button or hook, and sew it on firmly at the mark. More than that puckers the top of the zip, so use the side seams.
3. Between 1/2 in and 1 1/2 in (12 mm and 4 cm): work out the new seam line. Half of the total comes off at each side seam. Each side seam has two layers, front and back, so the new stitch line sits a quarter of the total inside the old one. To remove 1 in (2.5 cm) in total, the new line is 1/4 in (6 mm) inside the old seam at the top of the waistband.
4. Turn the skirt inside out. At each side seam, chalk the new line. Start at the top edge of the waistband, the quarter amount inside the old seam. Run straight down through the waistband, then curve gently back to meet the old seam 4 to 6 in (10 to 15 cm) below the waistband. The line must meet the old seam at a shallow angle with no corner.

5. Fold the skirt along the side seam with right sides together. Match the top edge of the waistband and the seam where the waistband joins the skirt, so they line up exactly on the front and back layers. Pin across the chalk line.
6. Do not cut or unpick anything. Baste along both chalk lines with long hand stitches and try the skirt on. Check both sides match, the waistband lies flat and you can sit comfortably. Adjust the lines if needed.
7. When the fit is confirmed, sew along each chalk line with a 2.5 mm straight stitch, or small hand backstitches. Start at the top edge of the waistband with 3 or 4 reverse stitches, and finish by running onto the old seam and sewing along it for 1/2 in (12 mm).
8. Remove the basting. Leave the old seam in place. Press the tuck you have made toward the back of the skirt, using a press cloth and the heat on the care label.
9. Inside the waistband, hold the top of the tuck flat with a few small whipstitches, catching only the inner layer of the waistband so nothing shows outside.
10. Wear the skirt for a day before deciding whether to trim. If the tuck is bulky, trim it to 1/2 in (12 mm) and overcast the cut edges. Trimming cannot be undone.

Tips for a neat result

• Measure the chalk line on both side seams from the old seam with a seam gauge. A difference of 1/8 in (3 mm) between the sides is enough to twist the skirt.
• Letting out: a waistband is a fixed length. The only spare is the underlap, the short tab that extends under the button or hook. Moving the fastening toward its end gains up to about 1/2 in (12 mm).
• A skirt that gapes only at the centre back usually needs its back darts deepened, which means opening the waistband. That is a job for a tailor.

Common mistakes and fixes

Check your result

• Both side seams are taken in by the same amount.
• The waistband top edge and its seam run in unbroken lines across each side seam.
• You can sit down and fasten the skirt without strain.

Projects that use this