Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Sewing nemesis: curved waistbands

 
Do other people have a sewing nemesis? I am sure I have a few but the one on my mind is a curved waistband. It doesn't matter how many times I have sewn one, I am always left thinking I could have done a better job. Generally it is lumpy bits where the seams intersect or the waistband facing seems to grow in some places.
 
 
 
 I have sewn up yet another hybrid Jalie 2805/2806 tee in a Crafty Mamas printed cotton lycra (purple colourway) and Burda #120 10/05 altered with my pants block and shortened to above knee length. This time in a gorgeous charcoal linen fabric that I bought at a nearby fabric sale.
 
 This is the best backview I have had. The only wrinkles of from the linen itself.
 For the waistband, I actually followed most of the directions from Tany's excellent blog.  This involved reading the instructions rather than just scanning the pictures. Of course, my waistband is slightly different, but it is mainly the seam technique. I actually trimmed the seam allowance before applying a some bias binding (voile fabric instead of bias organza). Now normally my edge is either flush with the seam but lumpy at the side seams (as I fold the seam allowances of the facing under) or it is a little wonky as some parts of the facing hang a little longer (for reasons unknown to me). Using a thinner fabric to bind the edge has reduced the lumps somewhat (next time I also need to remember to clip the corners more before overlocking) and since I pinned the facing to the seam edge, the facing is even for once.
 Pictures always look better when my daughter is with me.

5 comments:

  1. Beautiful sewing. Oh and your daughter makes that last photo so cute!

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  2. Hey those shorts look fantastic and the first thing I noticed was .. no wrinkles. They look really fabulous. I saw on the Gorgeous Fabrics blog, there is a tutorial for curved waistband but I have never done one. I went into your link for the fabric sale to see it i the one I posted about. Glad you went there and bought some stuff. Did you get on their mail list... either way I'll post about their next one.
    Happy holidays still.

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    1. No, not on their mailing list. So I will be stalking your blog! Am going to check out the Gorgeous fabric blog right now.

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  3. They look great Marie, fantastic fit! I like the bias binding on the waistband facing and the fabric is gorgeous! I have a thing for Linen at the moment but there is no decent stuff in my local shops. Great t-shirt too!

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    1. I hadn't sewn with 100% linen for the longest time - I can see the attraction.

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