Tweedy Lizzie with a couture waistband < with my hands

One day I was popping in the Materials in Helsinki and saw 2 metres of this gorgeous tweed fabric in the remnants bin. There wasn’t any way I could leave it behind! After trying some pleating possibilities myself, I finally decided to use the tried and tested Lizzie skirt pattern from Sew Over it. To make the sewing interesting I decided to delve into couture sewing techniques again and make a couture waistband.

The fabric

This houndstooth check fabric says Collection Royal by Reissmann Oxfort in the selvage and it is 45 % wool and 55 % trevira. I had to Google trevira, since the word didn’t say anything to me. I found out that the trevira fabric is specially fireproofed polyester.

The fabric drapes nicely and it doesn’t wrinkle at all, which is perfect for a skirt. Besides I love the warm autumnal colours!

Sewing the skirt with the couture waistband

I found this method of sewing a couture waistband from this highly recommended book, The dressmaker’s handbook of couture sewing techniques by Lynda Maynard (By clicking the Amazon affiliate link, you can offer a bit of support to the blog with no extra cost to you!):

I have seen this kind of waistband sometimes in the RTW clothes but it is not very common. It is very comfortable, lies flat and reduces bulk.

First I cut out all the materials: silk organza, hair canvas and I narrowed the waistband piece so that I removed the facing part of it. I also needed some Petersham ribbon.

The materials for the couture waistband.

Following the instructions, I channel-stitched the hair canvas to the organza. This will be the interfacing the waistband needs but because of the organza, there’s no bulk at the seam allowances.

Then I machine-basted the organza-hair-canvas-strip to the wrong side of the waistband piece. The Petersham ribbon was then inserted from the right side so that it is just a tad beyond the foldline.

Fastening the Petersham ribbon to the couture waistband.

At this point, I needed my skirt. So I finished the skirt to the point where I needed to attach the waistband. I made sure to baste all the pleats to make them sharp and symmetric. For the lining, I chose this green polyamide triacetate fabric that I had in my stash.

After I fastened the lining to the waistband, I sewed the waistband on and finished the ends. There was no instructions on how to do this in the Maynard’s book so I just did what I would do normally. Now I could remove the white basting threads, too.

Finishing the ends of the couture waistband.

Then the Petersham ribbon was turned to the wrong side and hand-stitched on and the hook and eye was inserted:

I think I succeeded pretty well! I think that a cotton Petersham ribbon would have been even more comfortably but this polyester one works, too.

Here is what the finished skirt looks from the inside (sorry ’bout the wrinkles):

The skirt from the inside with the lining and the Petersham ribbon from the couture waistband visible.

The finished Lizzie skirt

Here is the whole skirt finished. From afar the skirt looks brown and the colours show only when looked at closely. The fit is just right and there are pockets!

Here is the skirt from the back. It has a centre back zipper and the hook and eye I already mentioned above:

Here is the skirt from the side view. Yes, I pattern matched the side seams!

My tweedy Sew Over It Lizzie skirt from the side view.

I love that it was so warm that I wasn’t cold at all. The snow is melting really fast! The only thing was that my photographer was getting distracted by the spring creek (note his cool hat!):

I still have a bit of the fabric left and I am tempted to make a matching waistcoat. But then, there are so many great patterns out there that I may choose something else. So many patterns, so little time!