To those of you who are just joining us, welcome! We are on Day 3 of the sewalong for the Little Lizard King Retro Glam Skirt. You'll need to catch up by following day 1 and day 2. If you have any questions, hop on over to the LLK Cafe where you can ask questions, share pictures and have a good 'ole time with us!
Are you ready to put the petal to the metal? It's finally time to turn on our sewing machines! Hooray! Today we will be sewing up the waistband front, waistband back and side sashes.
Let's get started! Go ahead and sew the waistband sashes by folding each piece in half lengthwise with rights sides together. Sew the end of the sash at a diagonal/curve.
The most important part of making the waistband sashes is clipping the corners before you turn it right side out. This will help the corners lay flat and make perfect angles.
Use your favorite turning tool to flip the sashes right side out. Press and topstitch.
Take your two waistband pieces and two interfacing pieces to the ironing board. Iron the interfacing on the wrong side of the fabric, leaving 1/2" of fabric around the border without interfacing.
Fold the waistband pieces in half lengthwise, wrong sides together, and press.
You now have 2 options: use/make buttonhole elastic to allow for an adjustable waistband or sew in the elastic. I opted to make the buttonhole elastic as this was something I had never attempted, and why not use this opportunity to learn something new! And let me tell you, it's SO easy! I'll be explaining how to do option 1, so for those of you that chose option 2, follow along with the instructions in your pattern.
First, I cut 12" of knit (super important!) elastic for the size 12-18 months Retro Glam skirt. I marked four places along the elastic where I wanted to make buttonholes. To decide where to mark the buttonholes, I used the cutting chart for the sewn in elastic as my guide. For the 12-18 months size, that was 8 inches. I marked two buttonholes so that my elastic would be 7 1/2" long between the two holes. (I knew that 8" was the average size elastic a 12-18 month old needed. I made buttonholes a 1/2" smaller and 1/2" bigger to provide maximum versatility in regards to waistband sizing.
You'll need to make the buttonholes slightly smaller than the two buttons you're using as the elastic will stretch. Make the buttonholes and then zig zag the ends of the elastic to prevent fraying. Fold the zig zagged ends under and stitch. You can set this piece aside for now.
Continuing on with the buttonhole elastic method, grab your back waistband piece. Unfold the piece and lay it down right side up. We need to make two buttonholes 1/8" wider than our elastic so the elastic can slide easily through the buttonholes for waistband adjustment. Measure 1 and 1/4" from the raw edge and 5/8" down from the center crease you already pressed. This is where your buttonhole with start.
You should now have two buttonholes.
I always put a pin in the top of my buttonhole before I use my seam ripper to open the hole. You rip through the top of the buttonhole once, and you'll never do it again! Hence, the pin :)
You now have two buttonholes completed on the back waistband. Grab your two sashes, if you opted to add them! You will place them on top of the right side of the back waistband that doesn't have the buttonholes. The sashes should be aligned slightly above the ironed fold and the raw edges will extend beyond the raw edges of the waistband piece. Pin. Place the top waistband piece on top of the back waistband piece and sashes. The right sides will be together.
The front waistband piece will be smaller than the back waistband piece. This is because the back waistband piece will have the elastic in it. Sew down the sides of the waistband pieces so you now have a round piece waistband that's all connected. Press the seams open.
Our final step today is to make the waistband casing. Sew a straight line from the top of one buttonhole to the top of the other buttonhole. Do the same on the bottom of the buttonholes. You know have a casing for your elastic and you are done with day 3! Great work sewalong-ers!!
If you have any questions or would like to share your progress, remember to join us in the LLK Cafe! Use the hashtag #LLKRetroGlam when you share your photos!
See you tomorrow!
Kimberlee
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