How to Add an Elastic Waist to a Dress: A Drastic Elastic Refashion

A few months ago, I showed you how to add a fantastic elastic waist to just about any dress!

A lot of you asked why I cut the thing in two and restitched it before adding the elastic.  I thought it gave it a cleaner line, but heck!  Let’s try it another way!

I started off with this coral-y bathing suit coverup-looking thing…

I thought the hue of this frock was just a wee bit to light for fall/winter/whatever this cold thing is that we’re in, so….I reached for these!

After the dye bath, I still needed to deal with how shapeless this dress was.  While I usually just add a belt or a sash (because it’s easy and I like ’em), I want to make sure I show you guys other tips and tricks too.

Here we go!

I turned my dress inside-out, then I used my tailor’s chalk to draw a line all the way around my dress where I wanted my new waistline to be.

I also made a mark at the center front and center back of my dress.

Next, I wrapped a section of elastic around my waist and pulled it to where it was snug, but not too snug.  

Then I cut it off.

I stitched the two ends together.

I folded the elastic in half and used a fabric marking pencil to mark the ends of the folded bits.  

This meant I had a mark for every fourth of the elastic waistband.  Don’t worry.  It’ll make sense in a sec.  🙂

I then pinned each of the marked bits to the center front, center back, and each side seam.  

This makes it easier to evenly distribute the rest of the elastic.

Time to stitch it down!  Just use a straight stitch, but make sure you pull the elastic a bit as you go to keep the fabric from getting bunchy.  

It’s finicky, but it’s not that hard!

And just like that, you have a dress with an elastic waist!  

I rolled the sleeves up a little, pressed them down, and was good to go!

However, me being me, I couldn’t resist putting a belt on it!  😀

Sadly, the building I work in is in a constant state of frrrrreeeeezing, so all my coworkers got to see was this:

C’est la vie!

Cheers!