How to Make A Simple Elastic Waist Skirt Look Chic

images from Net-a-Porter and MyTheresa.

An elastic waist skirt was probably the first garment you ever sewed and it was undoubtedly a frumpy mess—I know mine was. But readers, it’s time to rethink the elastic waist skirt. Designers are turning out chic elastic waist skirts and you can too. Here’s Mood’s guide to making an easy but stylish skirt.

1. When the design is simple—like an elastic waist skirt—let the fabric be the star. Silks, brocades, knits, cottons…so many options! Just pick a fabric that looks graceful when gathered at the waist and not bumpy. Some heavier fabrics like denim won’t work well, for example.
   

   Here’s a skirt I made with an out-of-the-ordinary cotton I found at Mood. It feels like a thin coat of latex has been placed on top of the cotton.

2. Make or use a pattern that has a separate casing for the waistband. Folding over the top waist edge and then stitching looks homemade; adding a waistband casing is easy and really doesn’t add much time at all to the process. Plus it will result in a more expensive, RTW-looking skirt. I like Simplicity pattern 2258 for the attached waistband and pockets option (used in white skirt above).
   

   This ASOS skirt is identical to the Simplicity pattern.

3. Lightweight fabrics look better with more gathers at the waist, medium-weight to heavyweight fabrics look better with fewer gathers.
   

   A skirt I made using a lightweight poly brocade by Marc Jacobs, also found at Mood NYC.

4. Don’t forget to fit as you sew, especially if you are making a slim-fitting skirt. You want the skirt to fit over your hips or widest part when you pull it on, and you want to be able to move freely in it. When I made the skirts shown above we had three fittings to get the fit and amount of gathers at the waist just right. That may seem like a lot of effort for a simple skirt like this, but the rest of the construction was so easy that the fitting sessions didn’t really add much time.
5. Use wide elastic. A 1.5-inch width, for example. The wider the elastic width, the more stylish it looks.

Ok, now go make your chic elastic waist skirt! Check out these New Arrival fabrics at MoodFabrics.com for skirt possibilities, and when you’re done sewing, post a photo on Mood’s Flickr group page. Thanks!