Easy Waistband Finishing

Follow these easy waistband steps to simplify your sewing for faster garments!

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Here at Below the Kōwhai we love enclosed seams for neat and tidy finishes! That’s why you’ll find enclosed waist bands, where you can’t see any edges and threads, in our tutorials.

Think, Pai Shorts, Tio Trousers, Mānuka Skirt etc etc..

If you’re looking for a simpler, easy waistband for a faster sew. Or perhaps you’re batch sewing, there is another way!

The trade off is that you’ll be able to see a zigzagged/ serged edge on the inside of the garment.

Here’s how to do it:

When you reach the point in the tutorial where you would fold under the top edge of the waistband, instead:

1.

Finish around the top edge of the waist band with a zigzag or serge stitch.

2.

Fold the waistband in half horizontally so that the newly finished edge overlaps the existing stitching by 10mm (3/16″).

Pin in place with vertical pins.

TIP: Don’t forget to add a back tag!

3.

On the right side of the waistband, top stitch just above the waist band join. Leave a 35mm (1 1/4″) gap at a side seam to thread elastic through.

Remember to slide your pins out before you get to them.

On the inside of the garment, check that you have caught the folded over waist band in your stitching.

4.

Using a bodkin or safety pin, slide the elastic in to the casing.

Finish the elastic and garment as per tutorial.

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