Sewing an elastic waistband on a non-stretchy gathered skirt

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Hi there. I’ve completed about 70% of my gathered maxi skirt. The gathering was already done before inserting any waistband. I’m using an elastic for the waistband but would like to cover it with the fabric used for the fabric so that the elastic doesn’t show. I cut out the fabric and made a band, I then inserter the elastic inside and sewed it on the skirt. When I sewed the band on the skirt, I sewed it about half way into the elastic waistband, and so it doesn’t seem to be as stretchy as I thought it would be. What can I do?

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

so you gathered your skirt with a basting stitch and then sewed on a separate waistband with elastic in it? If that’s the case, it could be your pregathering which is leading to the issue. The waistband should be able to stretch but because you stitched the gathering into place it has no way to stretch any further. To fix this, you may want to remove the waistband, undo the gathering, and create an elastic waistband casing by just folding over the top of the skirt. This will create a casing, just make sure to leave an opening to slide in your elastic and then you can stitch it close. Hope this helps

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