We found this cute skirt for my daughter, but the waist was a bit too big. Even though it has elastic, I decided to take it in with some pleats because the elastic was completely sewn into the waistband. It would have taken a lot of time to take it in that way. (click here if you’d like to see how to bring in an elastic waistband). Any gathered skirt (with elastic or not) can be taken in this way.
Measuring
First, put the skirt on and see how much you need to take it in. I like to put the garment on and tighten it will a safety pin. Then take it off and measure the amount of fabric in the safety pin.
Pinning the skirt
Turn your skirt inside out. Mark two evenly spaced spots on the back of the dress, by dividing the back of the dress into three parts. Put a pin in the two middle dividers.
Now take the amount you needed to bring the skirt in and divide it by 4. (so if your dress has 2 extra inches, you will have .5 inches). Measure that distance away from each side of the pin and bring your pins together to form two pleats. (In our example, you will be making .5 inch pleats, taking up 1 inch of fabric each). Make sure the pleats are going in so the extra fabric stays on the inside of the waistband.
Sew a straight line down the waistband, don’t go into the gathered part. Since the skirt is already gathered, the pleats are barely noticeable.
