If you have a skirt that doesn’t fit quite right and is in need of just a minor alteration, you can do this fairly easily at home with a basic few sewing tools. Altering the waistband of a skirt or replacing it with elastic will prevent you from having to retire a favorite garment due to poor fit.
In this post
Can elastic waist skirt be tailored?
You can alter a skirt to make it smaller in many different ways, including sewing the skirt or tightening its waistband with elastic. It’s much easier to make a garment smaller than to make it larger! Any tailor or seamstress could alter a skirt to make it a size or two smaller with little effort.
Can a tailor alter elastic waistband?
Every so often a great pair of pants will come along and they just might need to have their waistband altered. Luckily, when it comes to elastic waistbands alterations are very doable.
How do you make an elastic skirt bigger?
You can make an elastic waist skirt bigger super easily. All you have to do is remove the old elastic and insert a longer piece of elastic, which will provide more stretch in the waist!
How do I make my elastic waist smaller?
How to make legging waistbands smaller
- Cut a small slit in the interior fabric.
- Thread a smaller elastic alongside the bigger one.
- Pull to desired size, then knot or sew.
- A few stitches to sew the cut shut — and you have perfect fit!
How do you alter an elastic waist dress?
Use a zig zag stitch to stitch your elastic to your waist. You will need to stretch the elastic between your quartering marks so that the elastic is evenly distributed. Make sure to sew your elastic on top of the line that you marked around your waist!
Can you take in elastic waistband?
Elastic stretches with age and wear. An elastic waistband can become too large even if the wearer remains the same size. Taking in a waistband only takes a few minutes and will make the garment fit and feel better. You can never be comfortable when it feels as if your pants might fall down.
Can you make a waistband bigger?
You can make your pants bigger around the waist using either stretching or sewing techniques. The easiest way to widen the waistband of your pants is to stretch the fabric to make it looser. You can also make more permanent alterations with scissors and a sewing machine.
Does elastic shrink in the dryer?
Polyester elastic is probably the best kind you can use overall. It works well in wash-and-wear fabrics, swimwear and synthetic knits. It withstands dry cleaning relatively well, as well as machine washing and drying. It shrinks very little, if at all.
Can you loosen elastic?
First, pull the elastic band to the maximum, and then put it on the ironing board or a wider wooden board. Then use an electric iron to iron back and forth on the elastic band. After a few minutes of ironing, the elastic will become slightly looser.
Does elastic stretch over time?
Depending upon the material casing around the rubber or spandex, the elastic may easily stretch. When needing to stretch elastic for a craft or project, you can either sew the elastic and stretch it while sewing or apply heat while stretching the elastic.
How do you cinch an elastic waist?
Put the elastic around your waist and pull it until it’s snug. Cut your elastic to this length. Overlap the ends of the elastic 1/2 inch and sew with a zigzag. Transfer your waist marks into the inside of your dress or shirt.
How do you tighten a loose dress without sewing?
Making a dress tighter without sewing is possible with safety pins, double-sided tape, or even grommets. Quick hacks like gathering the dress with the help of a metal bracelet can also make a dress tighter quickly.