The Quilt Skipper

quilting makes me skip for joy

Jenny K Lyon

Quilting makes me skip for joy

  • About
    • Meet Jenny
    • Resume
    • FAQs
  • Contact
  • Calendar
  • Gallery
  • Blog
  • Education
    • Lectures
    • Workshops
    • On-Demand Course
    • Tutorials
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Shop
  • 0 items$0.00

A Waist Stay and A Finish

June 19, 2013

I finished my linen dress before the Valley heat set in so I’m ready for 110 degrees! All that was left were 2 finishing details: a waist stay and a fringed hem.

I love the waist stay-it keeps my dress from hiking up and the Petersham ribbon that forms the stay is soooo comfy next to my skin. This dress really feels lovely from head to toe.

Button and Top Stitching

So just to review 8th grade Home Ec, ahem, a waist stay is simply a piece of ribbon cut to your waist size or a bit smaller, and inserted at the waist of a garment. Its sole purpose in life is to keep your waist where you put it-an internal stabilizer of sorts. It keeps your dress from sliding up or down. Have you ever seen someone hoist up their strapless dress? Guaran-darn-tee that they did not have a waist stay in that dress! It KILLS me to see Hollywood types hoisting up their dresses-it is not a very attractive gesture. And it’s a super simple thing to add to anything with a waist-even a purchased garment.

Start with Petersham ribbon-this is a must. Petersham ribbon may look like “grosgrain” ribbon but it’s not. Petersham has a flexible picot edge allowing it to be shaped with steam, whereas grosgrain cannot be shaped this way. The reason you care is that Petersham will flex comfortably with your body, the rayon will remain comfortable in the heat or cold and it will not wrinkle or pucker like grosgrain ribbon will.

Petersham vs Grosgrain

See how the Petersham at the top of the photo has those scalloped edges while the grosgrain at the bottom has a flat edge? This is the distinguishing feature of Petersham. Your local Big Box probably does not carry it-you’ll need to go to a proper fabric store or perhaps order online. See how the Petersham can be steamed into a curve without any puckering or pleats?

Petersham ribbons with sewn ends

To begin the waist stay, I measured my waist and added enough extra for the turn of the ends and the tabs to accommodate the hook.

Hook For Waist Stay

I robbed the hook from an old swim suit I wore in my Long Ago Prime.

Hook includes a "fat day" option

I also added an additional tab, a “Fat Day Option” just in case. I turned under each end twice and simply stitched across the ends as well as across the additional waist tabs.

Attaching waist stay

Once my ribbon was prepped, I attached it to the waist of my dress. I folded the tape in quarters and aligned those marks with the center and side seams. The bottom edge of the ribbon was placed to barely cover the existing stitch line for the waist seam.

White stitching is the waist stay
Then I flipped to the lining side to stitch so that I could see the previous stitching line of the seam. I stitched the ribbon on, stitching along the exact same line that I used to attach the bodice to the skirt. Here you can see where I began to stitch the Petersham on with white thread, right on top of the previously stitched seam which used pink thread (just so I could show you what I was doing).

Waist stay ends left free

I left 2 1/2″ of the Petersham free at each end of the ribbon. This will allow some slack so that I can easily slip in the hook when the dress is on. 

Inside View of Waist Stay

Here is the inside view of the stay. Now wouldn’t it have been nice if I’d been forward thinking enough to have purchased some pink Petersham?? As it is though, the waist stay provides a really nice touch to the inside finish, covering up the exposed seam.

This is what the stay looks like installed. The dress is on my dress form with the side zipper unzipped to show where I hook it.  When I put the dress on I simply slip the hook in to snug up the stay and zip-done! Some prefer to anchor the stay more loosely, just tacking at the center and side seams but I prefer to sew the stay to the waistband all around.

Invisible Zipper Inserted Into SIde Seam/Pocket

Not everything turned out perfectly. This tiny little detail kind of annoys me-there is a 3/8″ gap between the top of the zipper and the seam-grrrr!

Fringed Hem

I love, love, love this fringed hem! It’s not my brilliant thinking-it came straight from the pattern directions but I think I will use this technique again-it’s just so me!

Finished Dress

Here she is finished in all her glory. I am thrilled with this dress. Not every garment sewing experience produces something I really love but I did well on this one. Bring on the heat!

Filed Under: Quilts and Art Quilts

Comments

  1. Kathy Schmidt says

    June 19, 2013 at 2:15 pm

    Lovely…and people really do not know that level of detail, much less sew with that anymore. Especially ‘taught myself’ garment sewers. If I wanted to learn garment making, I would want you to teach me!

    • Jenny says

      June 19, 2013 at 2:26 pm

      Oh thanks Kathy! I have learned so much from local classes and Am Sewing Guild.

  2. Helen says

    June 19, 2013 at 3:36 pm

    Saw it on you and it is lovely. I’ll bet you make this pattern again.

    • Jenny says

      June 19, 2013 at 6:44 pm

      Thank you! And yes, I will.

  3. Carol says

    June 19, 2013 at 3:58 pm

    This dress is so pretty! Enjoy wearing it as you confidently laugh at the summer’s heat. And what a great idea- this waistline stay. Home Ec wasn’t offered until 9th grade in my school district, and our sewing project was a basic apron that we wore during cooking lessons in the same class. You had an amazing 8th grade Home Ec. teacher!!
    :0)

    • Jenny says

      June 19, 2013 at 6:46 pm

      Thanks Carol. Being brought up in the Stone Age in the Midwest, I was expected to learn things like this so it was a normal part of the curriculum.

  4. Laura says

    June 19, 2013 at 4:24 pm

    Ditto what Kathy said. I would definitely want you for my garment sewing teacher! Thanks for the excellent explanation of a waist stay.

    • Jenny says

      June 19, 2013 at 6:47 pm

      Thank you Laura! I learned most of what I know from Am Sewing Guild and Marilyn Stanley-a local legend.

  5. Kris says

    June 19, 2013 at 4:56 pm

    I want to see it on you!

    • Jenny says

      June 19, 2013 at 6:47 pm

      Thanks-you will!

  6. Mary Helen says

    June 20, 2013 at 12:24 am

    I love your dress. You could close the tiny gap at the top of the zipper with a few hand stitches if it really bugs you but it really is OK in a side zipper. Details really do make a difference. Thanks for sharing the waist stay. I’d forgotten about it.

    • Jenny says

      June 20, 2013 at 12:44 am

      I thought about closing it with hand stitching but it always looks tacky when I do it. Maybe if I took my time….

  7. Laura says

    June 20, 2013 at 3:52 am

    What a wonderful and informative post, Jenny! I can’t wait to see your dress! I hope I can figure out how to use it to make some of my pants more comfortable. Your descriptive writing makes me think I can tackle my waistband problems.

    • Jenny says

      June 20, 2013 at 4:07 am

      Oh you can totally solve your waistband problems with a waist stay-and do it in an hour!

  8. Rebecca Grace says

    June 20, 2013 at 5:17 pm

    See, the trouble is that by the time I was in 8th grade, circa 1986, Home Ec classes had all but disappeared. I think we had half a year of Shop and the other half Home Ec, probably just meeting once or twice a week, and it was co-ed. I don’t even remember there being any sewing in my Home Ec class, but I sure remember the boys getting in trouble for starting an egg fight when were supposed to be learning the rudimentary art of breakfast-cooking… There was definitely no instruction in the fine art of waist stays! I think your dress turned out great, Jenny. Can’t you just extend that seam a smidge to close the little gap above your zipper?

  9. Jenny says

    June 21, 2013 at 12:02 am

    No real Home Ec? One of the few advantages of age… I could extend the seam but it’s lined and the zip already in-lots of disassembling to make that one happen and I’m too lazy to do that! I realized that the whole waist stay thing was probably in high school when I took a self directed course in tailoring.

Sign-up for Jenny’s weekly newsletter

Teaching at QuiltFest Virtual Schoolhouse 11
QuiltWeek
BERNINA Ambassador Badge round 150px

Categories

  • Articles
  • Dyeing
  • Garments
  • Guild Engagements
  • Home Dec
  • Learning
  • Life
  • My book
  • New studio
  • On Demand Class/Taping
  • Quilts and Art Quilts
  • Remodel
  • Shows
  • Teaching Free Motion Quilting
  • Tutorials
    • Basting a quilt with Misty Fuse
    • Blocking
    • Daisy Fill
    • Flutter Fill
    • Making and Applying a Quilt Hanging Sleeve
    • Narrow Rolled Hem
    • Squaring up your quilt
  • Virtual teaching

Tags

; Jenny K. Lyon; the Quiltskipper; art quilts Aurifil thread Basset-inChief Beading Carla Barrett CRAFT NAPA Cutwork Diane Gaudynski Elizabeth Barton Master Class Family Fine Fabrics of Santa Barbara Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild Show Free motion motifs Free Motion Quilting Free Motion Quilting Challenge free motion quilting on a domestic Garment sewing Houston 2015 Houston International Quilt Festival International Quilt Festival at Long Beach Jenny K. Lyon Lin Squires Meissner Sewing Pacific International Quilt Festival PIQF Quilt basting quilting Quilt Marking quilt shows Quiltskipper Radiance Fabric SAQA SAQA-Studio Art Quilt Associates SAQA Benefit Auction Saturday Night Sampler Start With a Square Superior Thread Teaching Free Motion Quilting The Quiltskipper Trapunto Tucson Whole Cloth Quilts working with sheers

 

 

LauraStar Ambassador badge

Facebook icon   Twitter icon   Instagram icon   Feedburner RSS icon   Feedburner Mail icon

Bernina Ambassador badge

[mailchimpsf_form]

© 2010–2025 Jenny K Lyon | Privacy | Terms of Use | Log In