Baba Yaga Music Home » Many-Colored-Land » Costume Yokes

Making Yokes for Costumes adds Fit, Strength and Style

Ruric-Amari and Samovar perform Bollywood at Mediterranean Echoes 2011

Photo credit J Hendrix

Yokes on Costumes solve a lot of construction problems.

  1. Yokes add Fit by allowing you to use elastic or ties to hold pants and skirts on your body comfortably when your weight changes. They allow you to add length to skirts and pants that are too short. They allow you to reduce the bulk of a very full garment at the waist and hips.
  2. Yokes add Strength with their duo and tri-ply nature; a yoke on the top of a very full or heavy garment will resist distortion and ripping from the weight of the garment.
  3. Yokes add Style: generic costume pieces such as pants and skirts take on pizzazz with a decorated yoke.

In the picture at the right, the pant yoke is:

  1. providing a casing for elastic;
  2. reducing bulk at the waist of these very full pants;
  3. providing a place for ornamental braid on the costumes of the soloists in the middle.

So what IS a yoke?

A yoke is a rectangular piece of material that is folded and attached to the edge of a costume piece with the intention of supplying fit, strength and /or style.

Types of yokes used in these pages:

  1. Complete circle, no openings: typically used for casings for skirts, pants and tops.
  2. Two openings, with both ends of the casing finished: often used for panel belts and simple tops because this allows elastic or ties to pass through both ends.

Think ahead: if you have enough fabric to cut a second yoke piece, then save it; the yoke will sometimes wear out before the rest of the garment, especially if it is used as a casing for elastic. You will be able to repair / replace the yoke without searching for a matching fabric.

Double-fold Yoke

Open Ended Double-fold Yoke

This has a finished opening at both ends to allow a tie or elastic to be threaded through. It is used to make panels. The yoke is a bit longer than the panel on both sides to reduce bulk and fraying.

  1. Cut a piece of fabric 2“ longer than the finished width of the panel it will be attached to.
  2. Calculate width as 2 x desired finished width plus 1“ for seam allowances plus 1“ to accomodate gathering and turn-of-cloth.
  3. Make a 1/4“ hem at both short ends by turning twice and stitching.
  4. Press a 1/2“ seam allowance along one long side.
  5. Pin garment piece to unpressed long end, centering the panel on the yoke... you will have an extra 1/3“ on each end of the yoke.
  6. Stitch garment piece to yoke.
  7. Press.
  8. Fold the long side with the seam allowance already pressed under over the seam you just stitched.
  9. Pin and sew.
  10. Topstitch the bottom and, if desired, the top of the yoke.
  11. Thread tie or elastic through the open-ended yoke.
Ribbon panel with yoke
The yoke at Step 7, before being folded over and stitched down.

Tri-fold Yoke

Yokes for Pants, both Waist and Cuffs

The instructions for the harem pants on this site do not use yokes; the casing for the elastic is formed by folding the top of the pants and the bottom of the legs over and stitching.

If you want to add a yoke to increase length:
...at the waist (to increase length in the abdomen)
...at the cuffs (to increase length in the legs)
then no adjustment to the pattern is needed. Proceed with the duo-fold (for thick fabric) or tri-fold yoke instructions.

If the length is already optimium and additional length would have the waistband above your waist or make the legs poofy enough to trip you, then remove a width of fabric equal to desired finished width of the yoke minus 1/2 inch. (Example: a four-inch waist yoke on a garment that already fites means 3.5 inches should be removed from the top of the garment.) Proceed with the duo (for thick fabric) or tri-ply yoke instructions.

Maintenance

After each wearing, inspect for fraying or holes. Repair or replace yoke as needed. If you saved a second yoke piece when you created the first, you will be able to replace the yoke without searching for matching fabric.

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©2009 by Maura Enright
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