Finding Your Natural Waistline

09 Mar 2010 2 Comments

by Sewista Fashionista in Fitting, Necklines, Collars and Waistbands Tags: Fitting, sewing, Waistline

Yes – you do have one!

Amazing to think of but some of us have lost our waists.  And the usual culprits of sloth and overeating cannot be blamed. After years of low-rise, low-cut, booty-hugging jeans some of us have forgotten, or if you are young enough, never learned, the true location of our natural waist.  I have sometimes asked young women to show me their waists and they will invariably point to their navels!  When I demure they vehemently insist that is their waist.  That’s where their pants fall isn’t it?

No!  Where you pants fall may or may not be your waist. 

Pictured here is the waistline of a pair of pants.  Clearly the waistband is not at the natural waist.

Nothing wrong with that.   Why bother to even find the thing you ask?

Because a fashion designer can put a waistline any where they want.  And lately they have all been drawing the fashionable waistlines upwards of the navel, at the natural waistline.    

Shirtdress

After a decade of flat fronts and peasant tops, designers, department stores, and pattern makers are doing an  about face and offering up the shirtwaist dress, belted at the natural waist, showing off our womanly hourglass forms.  

 

So in order to sew or shop these designs we are going to have to find our waists.  Though I know some may be consterned by this graphic illustration of the female form, it is for educational purposes only.  With only one quick glance can you tell me where this woman’s natural waist is? 

Can you find the locations of this woman's natural waist?

Here is the solution for you to check your answer.

Depending on age and figure type locating this on oneself can be a bit trickier.  The natural waist is the smallest point on the torso above the navel, and for most, under the rib cage. (A very short-waisted person can have her waist skim the bottom edge of her ribs.)

How to Find Your Own Waist.  

If You Ever Lost It That Is.

• Stand up straight.
• Look in mirror and see if its apparent.  For some of us, that’s pretty much it.
• If you are still unsure take your measuring tape and draw it around you, pulling down and crosswise.  It should stop at the smallest point.

Now you are ready to sew up those new waist-enhancing designs.  In an upcoming post we will look at some pattern offerings for the latest in shirtwaist dresses.  But for the next two posts we are going to return to looking at all of the options for getting a nice sleeve placket in a dressy blouse.

Next Post: Returning to how to get a nice sleeve placket on dressy blouses -  What Not To Do: The Faced Placket; Thursday, March 11, 2010