Decorative Wide Elastic Waistband.
This bonus tutorial is dedicated to sewing a wide elastic waistband with leather decor.
And I hope you will grow even more convinced that working with leather is nothing beyond your skills.
You will need a clasp of any kind and decoration accessories to make this waistband.
Most importantly, it is a great way to use those bits of leather left after cutting other garments.
Creating a waistband like this is fast and easy work: it will take you, at the very most, an hour and a half whereas the result will make you happy for years. It will be a pretty and robust waistband!
You can use the same technique to sew waistbands from fake leather, suede cloth, and other non-fray materials. You can come up with countless designs as long as you know the step-by-steps of sewing a wide elastic waistband.
So the idea is to make an elastic waistband, decorate it with leather, add a lovely clasp and embellish it with metal accessories. In other words, make a fancy accessory from leftover bits of leather.
First of all, I need leather to use as the background for appliqué elements. I have also cut two pieces of gold leather and duplicated them with iron-on fabric. You will find the appliqué template in the appendix.
I have also prepared four pieces of black leather: two pieces the size of the template and two pieces 0.5cm larger for the lining. These pieces are not duplicated.
I cut a strap of black leather for the clasp and duplicate it with iron-on fabric to prevent it from stretching out. The iron-on fabric should be about 3mm narrower than the slit in the clasp.
I fold the edges of leather over the edges of the iron-on fabric and check if it can go through the slit.
I smear the strap with glue and press the folded edges down.
Then I cut it in half, put each end through the slit in the clasp, and glue it closed.
I transfer the motif from the template on the black leather pieces using a silver leather marking pen and cut it out.
And then I glue the motifs on the gold background using a rubber-based adhesive.
Next I need to stitch around all contours of the motif. I use a regular presser foot because a Teflon foot would partly cover up the motif and I would not be able to make as even rows of stitches.
The first appliqué piece is finished. The second piece should be treated just the same way.
I mark the placement of metal accessories and install them.
Now it's time to glue both ends of the clasp to the appliqué pieces. I mark the centre of the leather strap on the clasp and the centre of the appliqué piece. The clasp is supposed to be as close as possible to the appliqué. I smear the pieces with glue, press them together, and wait for it to set.
I cut a piece of elastic band 10cm shorter than the waist circumference and seal its ends with a lighter.
I need to secure the decorated pieces with the clasp halves on the band. I smear them with glue, press them in place, and trim the edges of elastic band that stick from behind the appliqué.
I take the slightly larger pieces of black leather and glue them on from the back as a lining for the appliqué.
All I need to do now is stitch both ends of the waistband and trim the lining.
You can use a waterproof marker to colour those white raw edges of gold leather.
The waistband is ready!
It took me about an hour and a half and minimum materials to create an elastic waistband with a mild body control effect.