It is the Sew Over It Xanthe Skirt release day and I want to show you how to make a contour waistband to perfect your new Xanthe skirt. It has been so difficult keeping this one under wraps because I have worn it almost everyday since I finished making it. I’ll also have a few other tips for you at the end of this post.

DoEs My Xanthe Skirt need a contour waistband?

A contour waistband or curved waistband is useful if you are extra curvy and have extra room at the top of your straight waistbands (aka gaping) but the bottom is fitting nicely. You might notice this on all the straight waistbands you make or only those that hit you at certain parts of you body.

For me, high-waisted garments always have this problem. I knew I wanted to make a muslin of the Xanthe Skirt before cutting into my precious denim because I knew I wouldn’t be able to order more in time to complete this Sew Over It Pattern Insider sew for release day. I made a size 18 waist and graded to a size 20 hips and continued with the size 20 downwards.

Keep in mind

Making a contour waistband takes more fabric than making a straight waistband because you waste more yardage cutting out the curved pieces. Depending on how drastic the difference is between your measurements where the top of your waistband hits and the bottom of your waistband hits, you will have a more or less curved contoured waistband. This is why it is a good idea to buy extra yardage or make a muslin before purchasing your final fabric so you know how much extra you need.

Have I neglected to follow this sage advice? Yes. The solution was to take my straight waistband and sew darts into it, essentially making the straight rectangle into a curve. Again, if you have a much smaller measurement at the top of your waistband compared to the bottom, you will need to make a lot of darts to achieve a smooth enough curve. That will become clearer below when I talk about how I took in my waistband along the top seamline.

Make a Xanthe Skirt muslin

Making a muslin will help you know exactly where to take in your waistband. Use a fabric as similar in weight and stretch to your final fabric as possible. I was going to use a 10.5 oz upcycled denim that I bought a few years ago from Blackbird Fabrics for my final skirt. Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything similar, so I opted for the next best thing; I used this red non-stretch cotton poplin. I made sure to keep in mind that the final skirt would fit more snug since it would be heavier in weight.

Eliminate unnecessary details

When cutting a muslin out, I eliminate features that will not affect the parts that I am worried about fitting, such as pockets and a completely constructed fly. You can see in the photo that I taped the pocket pieces in place to cut out the muslin. I also hastily and sloppily installed this zipper in the center seam, respecting seam allowances exactly. Then, I basted the side seams.

But, when sewing the muslin, don’t forget to include the staystitching! It is essential to prevent stretching that will alter the fit, especially of the waistband.

Prepare and sew the straight waistband on the Xanthe Skirt

To sew a waistband on a muslin, I prepare the outer waistband with interfacing and I staystitch the seamline at the top of the waistband piece. I do not cut the inner waistband (or lining). I iron down the seam allowance at the top of the waistband. This will allow me to get and accurate waistband height when fitting. I then attach the waistband to the skirt.

Try on the Xanthe Skirt muslin!

Once my initial muslin is done, I try the skirt on in front of the mirror and bring my pins. For the skirt part, I liked the fit. There is a little excess fabric on the side seam below my largest hip measurement. However, I know that making the final skirt in a heavier weight fabric will most likely conceal this issue as when I pinned out the excess, it was less than a quarter inch.

Issues with the straight waistband

As I suspected, the straight waistband on the Xanthe Skirt had a significant amount of gaping at the top. So, I pinned out at the sides to see how much I needed to take it in. I didn’t worry too much about evenly distributing that amount around the waistband at this point. I just pinned out at the sides. Later, I will more evenly distribute this amount along my waistband pattern piece.

The total amount that the top edge of my Xanthe waistband needed to be taken in is 1.5″.

Where to take it in?

Now is when you start making decisions about where you want to take in the waistband. I like to think about how much I need to remove (1.5″ in my case) and where there is the most gaping. If I am being lazy, I might say to myself, “well, 1.5″ divides by 3 nicely so I’ll just take it in in 3 places.” You can try your muslin back on and try different areas to pin out the desired amount, if you are not already familiar when the general shape of your waist.

I noticed that the front of the waistband fit well when I took in the back and side seam areas. Therefore, I decided to take the 1.5″ along the back between the two side seams, only.

Transfer your changes to the pattern piece

You can retrace your pattern piece and make your changes on that, but I usually just use the pattern piece because if I mess it up, I can print another at home. I drew the seam allowances in on my pattern piece and then drew perpendicular lines where I wanted to take it in.

I was in a hurry and decided to only take it in in only 3 places: a half inch at each side seam and a half inch at center back. Beware that if you decide to be a bit lazy like me, you will have to smooth out your curved waistband a lot more at the end.

If I was taking my time, I might have taken in 0.5″ at the center back, 0.25″ at each side seam, and another 0.25″ at a point midway between each sideseam and the center back.

Slash and Spread.. or overlap!

Once I had make my markings, I used the ol’ slash and spread method, but I overlapped instead of spread. Here’s how: I snipped from the bottom edge of the Xanthe waistband to the marked seam allowance, but not through. Then I cut down from the top edge of the waistband to the marked seam allowances, but not through. I left a tiny piece of paper attached to create a hinge.

Then, at each of my 3 marks, I overlapped the pattern piece by 0.5″ along the marked seamline at the top of the waistband. Make sure to overlap the desired amount on the seamline (which will be the finished top of the waistband). Do not simply overlap atthe actual top of the pattern piece.

Retrace your new contoured Xanthe Skirt waistband

After overlapping my 3 hinges and taping them in place, I retraced the pattern piece on a new piece of Swedish tracing paper. You can use anything big enough to trace your waistband like gift wrapping paper or butcher’s paper. Growing up, we always used waxed paper. I loved how my pen scratched a white line in the wax to trace my new pattern piece.

Back to the Xanthe skirt, I had to smooth out the areas where my 3 hinges were. If you were taking it in more than 0.5″ in each place, I wouldn’t take the lazy approach. This is because the angles created would be quite drastic. I would instead distribute the amount to take in over more hinges.

Re-fit your Xanthe skirt muslin

Now that I had my new contour waistband piece, I cut one from my muslin fabric and one from interfacing. I fused them together staystitched the top of the waistband along the seamline and ironing it down. With my thread ripper, I ripped off the initial straight waistband. Then I sewed my new contoured waistband onto my skirt muslin.

When I tried on my muslin with the new contoured waistband, I was happy with the results. I have to admit, I was starting to worry if my lazy, take it in in only 3 places approach instead of 5 was going to make for too angular of a waistband. Surpise! It worked well for my body and of course I forgot to take photos before I recycled it into pot-holders.

Keep your final garment fabric in mind

I kept in mind that the waistband would fit a little more tightly in my final garment as it would be made of two layers of heavier fabric. I decided that I was ready to cut into my good fabric. The results did not dissapoint.

The results

I’m loving the fit of my new Xanthe skirt and I wear it non-stop! I will definitely be making more. The waistband fits wonderfully and was well worth the effort of making and adjusting the muslin. Even though this is made out of a rigid, non-stretch, heavy weight denim, it is so comfortable!

The front pockets

Those front pockets are a delight and were really fun to sew. They fit my phone perfectly! I was apprehensive about sewing those pockets but they gave me no problems.

The fly

The fly however, was another story. For the first time ever in my nearly 30 years sewing, I sewed the zipper in kind of inside out or backwards. Whatever, I did, I had to rip it out and redo the whole thing when I was almost done! I blame it on my cold (I think maybe Covid?)

I had never put in a fly with the method in the instructions before. Other Sew Over It Pattern Insiders used the tutorial for the Ultimate Jeans fly that can be found on Stitch School. They had a lot of success with their flies. But, I missed that suggestion in the Pattern Insiders group. I blame it on my illness! It’s just a miracle that I didn’t yank the zipper pull right off of my shortened zipper. I was very focused on not messing that up the whole time!

Had I thought of Stitch School, I definitely would’ve tried that. I love learning new techniques for inserting flies, like I wrote about in my article UNLOCKING THE SECRETS TO SEWING JEANS: DISCOVERIES FROM MAKING 3 PATTERNS.

Instead, I used this method from The Last Stitch, which was very helpful. If you decide to use her video, just pay attention to the seam allowances. They are different than those in the Xanthe Pattern and you want the center front seam to line up properly, especially for the midi version with the vent.

On trend and a great way to learn Jeans techniques with less fitting

I love a good skirt, and denim skirts are a real staple in my closet winter, spring, summer and fall. I know I’ll be sewing this pattern again and again.

If making jeans has been a dream of yours, this might just be the way to dip your toes into some of the techniques without worrying about fitting your crotch seam. You will get to practice your topstitching and putting on patch pockets. Furhtermore, you will get experience constructing a yoke, inserting a fly zip and sewing a waistband. You can choose to finish your garment with belt loops. If you strike a good fit, you can even adapt this waistband to put it on your other jeans patterns!

To top it all off, at the end, you’ll have a garment that is currently on trend but that also holds a timeless quality.