Burda Style 02-2011-107 and that Threads contour elastic waist, yet again

I fear I am repetitive. This is my the third version of this skirt, 02-2001-107.
The Burdaesque photograph where you cannot really see the skirt was the idea of my 14 year old photographer. She was feeling creative, who am I to argue?

I like the fit of the skirt, having worn version 1 at least twice a week since I made it in June. Version 2 suffered from fabric failure - I whipped it up in a brown crinkly mystery remnant with gold bits that I bought from Kerryn's Fabric World, wore it out the same evening to the opening of an Instutitute of which my husband is a board member, and the fabric split in 4 places by the end of the evening! The skirt was not even tight, so I was fairly cross about it.
Fortunately, I was wearing my knee length velvet coat over the top, as it was hideously cold in this 1890's building, so the fabric failure was only evident to me. Whew, that was a close one! I had planned to take photographs of the garment the next morning for the blog, but I'm sure you are glad that I thought better of it.

This version is a nod to my rather large pile of unsewn winter projects. A skirt from this fabric has been in my mental sewing list for the last 2or 3 winters. The fabric is a loose cotton and wool blend that I bought when Textilestudio was selling off their stock, and I love the colours and print, despite the unecessary attention drawing qualites of such a fabric over my behind. Note that I am not showing you a back view ;). Maybe I should wear my coat with this one too.
I have cleverly turned Burda's fashionable high wasited skirt into a very basic pattern by chopping off most of the height of the waist, and making the length just above the knee instead of mid calf. I have lined the skirt and not used a waist facing.

Once again, I attempted the contour elastic waistband from Threads, September 2008 for this skirt.



This time, I sewed a thinner, more flexible elastic to the seam allowance of the waistband seam, stretching it very slightly. The elastic is between the outer and lining fabrics. I then topstitched, stretching the elastic again.



The elastic is sewn down to the zipper tapes through both lining and outer fabric, using stab stitching. The elastic pulled too much when sewn to just the lining fabric (polycotton batiste).

I added an inner button tab, idea taken some years ago from Sue (her tabs are much neater and do not have crooked buttonholes), to help support the elastic and also to hide the v I had left at the top of the zipper due to topstitching too far.


This waist looks less bulky than my previous attempts, but I am not completely sold on this method. Maybe elastic waists are just not my cup of tea.
I am making the skirt again in a light denim. I might try a facing this time, just for a change.

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Burda Style Skirt, with Elastic Contour waist finish.

Another victim of the insects-under-the-bed was a trouser suitable length of brown wool, in a coarse weave. With judicious cutting, I managed to fit a straight skirt on the hole-less pieces.
The fabric ravels in an indiscriminate manner, and I didn't enjoy sewing with it very much. I am almost grateful to the insects for munching so much of it.



The pattern is Burda Style 02-2011-107. I was inspired to make this particular skirt by Dawn's post, in which she describes her use of an elastic contour waist finish, as detailed in Threads, September 2008, to support the high waist. I had used this technique previously, with mixed results, but thought Dawn's application of the technique above the natural wasitline would work much better than my earlier attempts. Please, if you are comparing the skirts, remember that this particular skirt is definitely not a size 34, like the reviews at pattern review. This is a flattering skirt for a curvy person (size 40, with generous backside allowance added - very useful back panels for this adjustment are present in the pattern. The waist is about size 38, skinner at the back). My version has an added front central seam for insect avoidance reasons, and I used no seam allowances at the waistline, or hem, length B, to allow for my short waistedness and short leggedness.

I like the fit of the skirt. I am not thrilled with the elastic contour waist again. This time I followed Dawn's photos, where the elastic is applied to the right side of the outer fabric (lining underneath for me), which gives a doubled over edge of elastic at the waist seam.
I think my elastic was too stiff for this technique. It did not like being doubled over on itself, and was only tamed into position by understitching (3 step zig zag).

Later I tried this technique on another garment, using bridging stitch that just caught the elastic, so when the fabric was turned right sides outwards, the elastic was not folded, and I prefered the turn achieved in this way.

Despite my unhappiness with the elastic. I have worn this skirt 3 times in the past 10 days. The waistband is comfortable, if gappy, and having the unfortunate tendency to stand up directly from my hips,


I must have been in desperate need of a brown winter skirt in my wardrobe. I plan to use this pattern again, and to keep fiddling with contour waistbands. I will look out for soft and forgiving wide elastic. I will also work on my photography.
How is this for an edgy country town decay background? ;)

Aren't you glad I did not attempt daily photography for Me-Made-June?
Maybe I should work a little more on my photography.

Threads"Elastic as a contour waist finish"

As I described in my previous post, this is my trial of the 'No-Nonsense Flexible Waist Finishes" from Connie Long's article in the September 2008 issue of threads magazine.
I continued with method 2, after applying the lining in my prefered method, described in my previous post, as I did not understand step 1 in Ms Long's article. Step 2, which is basting, then overlocking the waist of the lining and the garment together to leave a 3/8 seam allowance was not a problem. Step 3 and 4, where the elastic is pinned then sewn to the seam allowance using zig zag was only tricky in that the amount of elastic stretch to allow is trial and error. Ms Long suggests obtaining the correct amount of ease by practicing on fabric scraps, but this seems a little impractical to me, ease over a full waistband will be different to ease in short scraps, so I chose to guess, and then to wear the garment for a day at work to see if the ease was suitable. I did find that this application required great precision of stitching. The zig zag needed to just catch the outer edge of the elastic, or the turn over became very messy.(This means that I ripped out my first attempt and did it again more carefully)
Below is the inner view of the Vogue 2925 pants showing the differing waist finishes. The view on the top is of my worn out pair, finished with a strip of woven selvage as an alternative to the petersham ribbon called for in the pattern instructions. I have not experienced any waist expansion difficulties with this pair, but as I do not tend to wear my tops tucked in for work, I probably would not notice minor expansion. The lower pair has 1 inch non roll braided elastic applied according to the method 2 instructions in the article. I have trimmed this elastic down from 1 and 1/2 inches to meet the instructions.

 

I wore the pants to work, where I bent, crouched, stretched, knelt, twisted and climbed in my normal activities (work is hard on clothes). The waistband was fairly comfortable, but not noticeably more so than the previous pair.I did not like the uncovered elastic against my skin. This method of waist finishing requires a tucked in camisole in my opinion, and it is too hot where I live to wear several layers of clothing.
I do not think this waistband finish could be worn as I have made it with a tucked in blouse. I may have too much stretch in the elastic, but to me these pants look gathered at the waist, even though there are no obvious gathers in the elastic application. To me they appear more bulky at the waist than my previous pair. My daughters told me they look like clown pants. Fortunately this is not apparent with a blouse over the top. They allowed me to leave the house wearing the pants.

 

 

The other thing I dislike about this waist finish is shown in the photo below.

 

This is not immediately apparent in the previous photographs, but the elastic does not lie flat against the body, it is turned out by the pants fabric, and I can see it when I look down. Yuck! I will be removing this elastic, and applying a woven selvage waistband finish. Next I will make another pair of these pants using method 1 "elastic as a stabilizer".