Tipped Waist

A lot of people have a tipped waist that is high at the back and low at the front. From the side view, there is a definite angle. Mine is tipped by an inch and a half, which may not sound like much but it's enough to have pants and skirts either riding up on my stomach or folding around the waist. When I alter the garment to follow my natural curves, both of these issues are resolved.

At this point, the change is so consistent that I could make the alteration to the pattern piece before I cut the garment out only it's easier (and perhaps safer) to do it as I work. Once all the seams are sewn or basted together, I try the garment on with a wide piece of elastic placed tightly around the waist. By bending around and up and down, the elastic will settle into the natural curve of my waist. Tailor's chalk is used to mark the position at center front.




Finding the same position on the pattern piece, I redraw the angle of the curve and then cut out the slip of paper that will no longer be there. It's placed on the garment and the curve marked with chalk. In the image below, it's pinned to the facing. I mark one side, flip it, and mark the other pinning the facing and garment right sides together along the seam line so I don't need to unpin them until it is sewn.




Once the curve is marked, I fold the front pieces right sides together and cut on the line checking when I'm done that it is accurate and the same side to side by looking at what remains of the chalk line. My hip level is even side to side. If you have one hip higher than the other, you would both mark and cut this curve separately.

The top of the curve now dips an inch and a half at center front tapering up to the side seams. This skirt has an yoke. I wanted the line of the yoke to remain parallel to the floor so I made the change on the yoke piece as opposed to the skirt piece. Most likely, I'll wear a blouse or t-shirt over the skirt but even if I tucked one in, I would blouson it over so I think this look is better than angling the yoke downward at the front. That would make my stomach look big and drooping.




To re-enforce the top of the slit in the back skirt, I fused interfacing over the seam line on both sides and then re-stitched the seam. The extra stitching and the interfacing will prevent the seam from tearing.

You may have noticed that I use a lot of tailor's chalk. It's a very handy tool in the studio. Here I've used it to mark the stitching line for the hem and around the slit. I sewed on the chalk line and then wiped it off with a damp cloth. If you make a mistake as I did, either wipe it off first or be very clear which line you're following.

When I cut out the garment, I used 1" seam allowances along the side seams. To finish fitting the skirt, these are pinned wrong sides together on the outside. The garment is tried on and the position of the pins adjusted so that it fits my body securely.

The chalk is then used against the wrong side to mark the position of the seam line. Once I know where to sew, the seam is pinned right sides together and the stitching follows the chalk line. I ended up taking the skirt in another 1/4" on each seam or an inch in total and tapered it at the bottom so that the hem width was narrower than my hip width - a more attractive look.

Years ago, I started sewing the side seam last like I'm illustrating because my weight kept fluctuating up. Sometimes, I'd hem the garment after the side seam was sewn but more often before making it really easy to take the seam out.

Earlier this year, I lost quite a bit of weight and then my weight held steady but now it's started go down again. This same method will allow me to easily take the skirt in if that's what I want to do. When I can, I use this option because I never know when what I'm sewing will become a favourite. If the resulting seams are too wide, they can be trimmed narrower and re-serged along the edges. Right now, mine are 1 1/4" which is a bit wide but working. If my weight goes down some more, I'll trim them.

Here is the skirt finished and pinned to the design wall. Too fun. The pattern is Simplicity 9825 with the slit moved to the back. It looks really nice with the jacket I just finished. Next, I plan to make a blouse or t-shirt to go with and then get a picture of the complete outfit.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - retaining my fashion sewing skills even though I hadn't used them much in a long time