We recently took delivery of some cotton elastane rib knit at Plush Towers and I’m a little bit in love with it. It’s such a great alternative to elastic and I think it looks much more professional. It can be used for waistbands, cuffs, t-shirt necklines etc.

I decided to make another skirt following this tutorial from Danamadeit.com and customised the waistband to use the rib knit. It took under an hour (it was actually closer to 30 mins!) I thought I’d share how I pimped the waistband:

1) Work out the amount of fabric you need to make the skirt by following the instructions on this tutorial.

I used these fabrics

Peeping Owls Corduroy from Springs Creative

RIB – Cotton Elastane – Cerise

2) Decide how high you would like the rib knit waist band to be and deduct this amount from the length of the main skirt fabric.

3) Measure your child’s waist and cut a length of rib knit according to this measurement plus one inch and twice the height you’d like the waistband to be. I cut mine 3″ high, then fold in half giving me a 1.5″ wasitband. Press the waistband whilst folded along the length.

4) Sew the 2 short ends together to make a circular waist band. Use an overlocker, or an equivalent stitch on your sewing machine if you don’t have an overlocker.

5) Fold in half along the pressed fold. This is your finished waistband.

6) Make the skirt by sewing the 2 short ends of your fabric together to make a tube.

7) Prepare the hem by folding up about half an inch of the hem, and them half an inch again so as to hide the raw edge. You can adjust the exact hem length later.

8) Gather the waistband by basting 2 lines of stitching along the top of the skirt, leave long threads at either end.

9) Pull the threads tight and gather the skirt.

10) Put the skirt inside the waistband with right sides together and ease out the gathering on the skirt fabric so it matches the waistband and the gathers are evenly spread. Pin, or make it easier with  Wonder Clips

11) Sew the waistband in place with your normal machine very close the the fabric edge. Once secured and you are happy the gathers are even secure with an overlocker, or overlock type stitch. Stitching in place first makes it easier to correct any gathers, should you need to.

12) Check the length of your skirt on your child and hem accordingly by pressing half an inch, then folding over again to hide the raw edge

13) You’re done! Easy peasy rib knit waistband is attached.

My next project with rib knit is this jacket. I’m going to use red double sided cuddle fleece and use Scarlet rib knit at the cuffs and waistband (instead of the ruffle). That’s the plan anyway! I might need to finish some UFOs first 🙂