How to Make a Waist Sash for a Dress

Make your waist sash long for a more dressy look.

Every woman and girl should have at least one dress in her closet. Dresses are lovely, traditional feminine garments, some of which are completed by a waist sash. A waist sash is a long, thin piece of fabric that is tied around the waist as a decorative item or used to cinch in the loose fabric of the dress around the waist. Waist sashes often are worn smooth and taut across the waist and finished with a bow or knot at the woman's back. Waist sashes are common features of girls' dresses as well as women's summer and formal dresses.

Things You'll Need

• Measuring tape or yardstick
• Pencil or pen
• Roll of paper or newspaper and tape
• Scissors
• Pins
• Fabric
• Iron
• Sewing machine
• Thread
• Hand sewing needle

Instructions

1. Examine the dress you are making the waist sash for: Do you want the waist sash to match the dress in color and fabric, or contrast it? Does the dress have a clearly marked section for the waist sash, and if so, how big is it? Choose your fabric accordingly.

2. Measure how high and how wide you want the waist sash to be with a measuring tape or yardstick. Draw the waist sash's rectangle shape on a long piece of paper or several sheets of paper taped together. Add a seam allowance of 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch all around the rectangle. This is now your pattern. Cut out the rectangle on the outer edge.

3. Pin the pattern piece to the fabric and cut out two fabric pieces. Remove the pins and join the fabric with the right sides together. Press the edges with a hot iron. Pin the fabric in place.

4. Sew the top and bottom edges of the fabric on the seam allowance -- these are the longest sections. Then sew one of the short edges on the seam allowance. Remove the pins. It should look like a tube of fabric with only one seam unsewn.

5. Carefully turn the tube of fabric inside out by pushing the sewn short edge through the tube onto itself. The bigger the waist sash is, the easier this task will be. The right sides of the fabric should now be visible from the outside. Press the edges.

6. Finish the waist sash with a blind stitch. To do this, take the remaining unsewn edge and fold both sides of the fabric under (inward) along the seam allowance. Thread the hand sewing needle. Pierce the needle through a small amount of the edge of one side and then repeat on the other side. Continue piercing and sewing just along the edges as neatly and as invisibly as you can. Double-knot the thread at the end and cut off the excess.

Tips & Warnings

• You can embellish the waist sash by sewing a decorative buckle to the center front of the sash.

References

• Sewing and Craft Alliance; Basic Sewing Tools; September 2005