How to Convert a Pattern to an Elastic Back
When sewing an item of clothing for yourself, the most important thing is that when you are finished, you have created a garment that fits you. Rather than spending an inordinate amount of time adjusting a pattern for your specific and precise measurements, and because your size can fluctuate throughout the year, why not add elastic. By converting a sewing pattern to one that allows for an elastic back, you can ensure that the item will conform to your size no matter the time of day.
Things You'll Need
- Sewing pattern
- Blank pattern paper or butcher roll paper
- Pen, pencil or marker
- Sewing tape
Instructions
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Trace your existing back pattern piece onto blank pattern paper or butcher roll paper, and cut it out. You can rework your pattern while keeping the original intact.
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Determine whether your back pattern piece is for a half back or a full back. If your pattern is for a half back, you will either be cutting two of the pattern or cutting on a fold to make one full-back piece. If your pattern is already for a full back, you can work with the piece as is.
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Lay the new traced pattern piece on another piece of pattern paper. If the piece is for a full back, cut the traced pattern piece straight up the center back, slide the pieces apart about 6 inches and weigh the two halves down. If the original pattern is for a half back, draw a line parallel to the center seam line 3 inches from the center seam line. Extend the pattern's width lines -- for example, necklines and hemlines -- so that they meet the new center seam line. Ultimately, you are widening the garment's half back by 3 inches in the center back from top to bottom.
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Re-trace the new pattern. If the pattern back was for a full back, you will now have a new full-back pattern piece that is 6 inches wider in the center. If the pattern back was for a half back, your pattern piece will be a total of 3 inches wider in the center.
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If your back pattern was just a waistband, such as for a skirt or pair of pants, you don't need to alter the pattern piece; you can simply enclose elastic in the waistband and stitch the ends into the side seams. If your back pattern piece was for a bodice or the top of a dress, you should use elastic thread to shirr the back of the garment.
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Tips & Warnings
If you choose to shirr the fabric, wind elastic thread onto the bobbin by hand as winding elastic by machine may snap the elastic. You may want to wind several bobbins with the elastic thread as a bobbin doesn't hold much length of elastic thread because of its thickness.
References
- Gertie' New Blog for Better Sewing: Making a Shirred-Back Dress, Part One: Modifying Your Pattern
- Gertie' New Blog for Better Sewing: Making a Shirred-Back Dress, Part Two: Shirring!
- Gertie' New Blog for Better Sewing: Making a Shirred-Back Dress, Part Three: Making a Shirred-Back Dress, Part Three: Stitching the Bodice and Skirt
- Sensibility: How to Resize a Pattern
- Pattern Review: Convert Skirt to Elastic Waist
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Polka Dot/Getty Images
