It’s time to sew the elastic waistband on the Vide Knit Pants Sewing Pattern. In this tutorial, I’m showing a slightly different method compared to the instructions included in the pattern. In this version, we are leaving an opening in the waistband so that you can easily adjust the elastic if it ends up feeling too big or too tight after a while.
Preparation
Fold the back and front waistband pieces in the middle, right sides up, wrong sides facing.
Press the waistband pieces from the right side up. Use a pressing cloth if the fabric is sensitive. You can also do the fold and press after joining the pieces together. but it’s a little bit easier to do when there are still single pieces.
Join the waistband pieces
Pin the pieces together at the sides, wrong sides up, right sides facing to form a loop.
Mark an opening in one of the seams, about 3 cm (11/2″) long. This is for inserting the elastic after you’ve attached the waistband to the pants.
Sew the waistband side seams
Use a straight stitch or a narrow zigzag stitch. If you are using a straight stitch, shorten the stitch length slightly to prevent it from breaking.
Sew along the side seams and leave a small opening in one of the seams as marked. Backstitch on both sides of the opening to secure the seam.
The finished seam with the opening.
Fold open the seam allowances, and press.
Attach the waistband to the pants
Attach the waistband to the pants, with the right sides facing. Align the centre front and centre back notches with the crotch seams and line up the side seams. The opening should be on the inside of the pants once the waistband is attached.
The waistband is cut as long as the waist opening, but sometimes the waist opening might stretch out during handling. Don’t worry, just stretch out the waistband during sewing to fit and the waist opening will bounce back.
I recommend using sewing clips (Amazon Affiliate Link) rather than pins since the layers are thick and the clips are super easy to remove and adjust.
Stitch along the waistband to attach it. Sew with the waistband facing up, towards you. I recommend using an overlock stitch for this step since you want to have a stitch that can handle being stretched out.
Press down the seam allowance to flatten out the seam.
Adding the elastic
Prepare the elastic. The elastic will be trimmed after insertion and fitting, so keep it fairly long or don’t cut it at all. Attach a safety pin to one end of the elastic. The elastic should be 5 cm (2″) wide, the same width as the waistband. This will prevent the elastic from twisting and folding.
Insert the elastic inside the opening using the safety pin as your grabbing tool. Thread the elastic inside the waistband and pull back the waistband fabric to even it out during insertion. Make sure the elastic doesn’t twist.
Pull through the elastic and join it temporarily with the safety pin.
Fit the elastic on the body
Fit the garment on the body and adjust the length of the elastic. Use the safety pin during fitting. The elastic should sit firmly on the body without digging in. It’s easier to this with wrong side facing out.
Turn the pants to the right side and check again that you are happy with the fit. The waistband should sit slightly below the natural high waist, close to the belly button. Depending on your body shape and the fabric, the waistband on the Vide Pants might be slightly gathered or completely flat when the elastic is inserted.
Join the elastic
Overlap the edges of the elastic around 1.5 cm (1/2″) and pin. Trim the extra elastic.
Either sew a rectangle with a zigzag stitch or two parallel rows to join and secure the elastic.
Pull the joined elastic inside the waistband and spread it evenly.
Close the opening with a slipstitch, or leave it open to make further adjusting easier.
The finished waistband on the Vide Pants, with an easy option to adjust the elastic hidden inside.
Follow the Vide Sew-Along series.
