Sewing Drawstring Casing // Kelly Anorak Sewalong

If you're installing a drawstring casing on your Kelly Anorak (a completely optional step, but one that adds a little waist definition), try on the body of your coat first to make you like where it sits at the waist. You may find you need to raise or lower it slightly so it hits around your natural waist.

If you are sewing un unlined Kelly Anorak, you must position the drawstring casing on the inside of the jacket, so install your grommets or sew your buttonholes to the exterior of the jacket. When you have decided on the placement of your drawstring, reinforce the grommet or buttonhole placement with a scrap of fusible interfacing. If you are sewing a lined Kelly Anorak, the casing will be sewn to the outside of the jacket. In this case, you will install the grommets to the drawstring casing instead. See this post on installing grommets if you need some help.

The grommets included in our Kelly Anorak hardware kits have the correct size opening to fit a 5mm drawstring. If you have sourced your own, make sure the opening of your grommets is big enough for the drawstring you would like to use. If you are sewing a buttonhole instead, sew a test buttonhole first. Your buttonhole should be no longer than 1/2". Open the buttonholes before sewing the drawstring casing to your jacket.

Assemble the drawstring casing by sewing the front casings to the back casing along the short ends and stitching the seam allowances down flat along the raw edges. Press the long edges under by 1/4".

Position the drawstring casing along the waist of the inside of the jacket (for the unlined version; if you are adding a lining the casing will go on the outside). I like to use a quilting ruler to make sure the casing is perfectly aligned along the waist of the jacket.

Try your jacket on one last time before stitching the casing down to make sure the ends match up on either side of center front. It is normal that the casing is longer on the right side of the jacket- you will trim it to fit.

For the unlined version only: topstitch the top edge of the drawstring casing in place by sewing 1/8" from the edge.

It's easiest to add your drawstring after sewing the first line of casing topstitching but before sewing the second. You won't have to feed it through with a safety pin later.

Once the second line of topstitching is sewn, you are ready to attach your zipper.

If you are sewing the lined version of the jacket, you will baste the drawstring casing in place on the outside of the jacket instead of topstitching it right away. We will topstitch the casing later once the jacket is fully assembled with the lining attached. For our waterproof sample we machine basted the casing in place, but you can also keep it in place for the time being with some sticky tape if you would rather avoid piercing your waterproof fabric with too many pins and needles. Notice that the grommet is attached to the casing rather than the jacket body - you'll want to make sure you are putting it in the right spot on the casing, as indicated on the front jacket pattern piece

Next up: installing the zipper placket!

Read the next post in our Kelly Sewalong series. Get the pattern here.