About two years ago, I sewed a gray wool blend A-line skirt. It's a good basic piece that was too small at the waist.
I decided at some point to 'fix' that...and managed to make it too large. Things weren't helped by my brilliant idea to make the newer, larger waistband from a nice soft knit.
Now, I lived through the late 90s, so a skirt that sits below my natural waistline is not out of the question, but the effect of this one doing that was that the hem landed at a rather dowdy length.
Plus, I had applied that soft comfortable new knit waistband in my usual "sew to the back and flip around to the front, where the edge is stitched down" way, and that does not work as well on a soft floppy knit as it does on a crisp, interfaced woven.
I finally sat down and really fixed it.
The first thing I did was pick out all the stitching to remove the waistband.
Then I removed the pockets. I love having pockets on skirts, but I know now that the way you put pockets in A-line skirts was not the way I had put the pockets in this (ya gotta have side seam stitching above the opening too--if they open straight out of the waistband like I'd originally done here, then the gaping is unforgivable.)
Then I made quarter inch darts on the back pieces, gathering the lining slightly to reflect that reduction in width.
The knit waistband was re-sewn, with two major differences in the approach this time. First change: I sewed it to the outside of the skirt, then flipped the folded edge to the inside and stitched that down by catching the edge as I stitched in the ditch from the outside. Second: I gently stretched the knit as I sewed, so it would draw the waist in just a bit more.
I made a new buttonhole and sewed on the same button.
And that worked! The skirt now sits at my waist (which is a feat, given the shape of that area) and is not hanging at an unpleasant length.
It's nice to have this skirt back in circulation again. Now maybe I can get to the other too-small-waistband skirts that are waiting...
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