More skirt math, part 3

The back is like the front, but without the fiddly zippers.  There are four pieces, like this:

(The height of the Back Center piece is the same as the other two, I just didn't want to gum up my pretty diagram.)

STEP SEVEN: Repeat steps five and six.  (Sew the top three pieces together, iron the seams open, sew the bottom piece to the top, iron the seams so the excess all goes downward, top stitch the seam down.)

STEP EIGHT: Sew the the front to the back along the side edges.  Try it on.  You may need to adjust your seam allowances on the two side seams until you have a fit you really like.

Okay, here's the part that's bugging me.  In the past I have just made a really long rectangle, the length of my waist with a little extra for button overlap.  But because the skirt tapers as it goes up, and the waistband doesn't, it keeps acting weird when I wear it, and I think that the waistband really needs tapering, too.  SO, here's how I intend to to the next one:

You will need three pieces:

I forgot to write in:  all of the pieces are 5.5" tall.

Here's the math:

Use the same waist measurement that you used for the body of the skirt.  It should be your waist approximately 2" below where you want your skirt to sit.


STEP NINE:  Cut out waist band pieces.

STEP TEN:  Fold in and iron 1/2" on the top and bottom of each piece.  You will have three rectangles that are now 4.5" tall.

(If you are using interfacing, you will also want to cut three strips that are as long as the fabric, but 2" tall.  Iron to the bottom half of each fabric piece.)

STEP ELEVEN:  Fold each rectangle in half, horizontally, so that the right sides are facing outwards, and the folded pieces look like this:

STEP TWELVE:  Trim the tops of each rectangle like this:

You want to be trimming approximately 0.25" off on each cut.

STEP THIRTEEN:  These three pieces need to be put together into one long piece, with the back in the center, and the two front pieces on each side, but I haven't decided on the best way to do that.  I am thinking of surging each short side, folding in the edges of the back piece, and sewing it over the edges of the front pieces.  But there might be better ways.

STEP FOURTEEN: Hem the center of each front piece.

STEP FIFTEEN: Fit the top of the skirt into the open end of the waistband, overlapping approximately 0.5".  (The right front waistband should stick out a bit beyond the skirt body.  This is so it will overlap with the left front waistband and you can put in a button or snap or whatever.)  Sew down.  Top stitch the very top edge of the waistband.

STEP SIXTEEN: Make buttonhole.  Sew on button.  Or snaps or frog closures or whatever.

STEP SEVENTEEN: Fold the bottom edge of the skirt up to the length you want, and hem.

DONE!