When I was working on designing skirts for girls, I knew one thing. They had to be adjustable. I have 3 kids, we dislike spending money on clothing (but love spending money on fabric), love hand me downs and had 3 kids that struggled to fit clothing sometimes.
Our son especially was always skinny. He developed a habit of holding up some pants because they wouldn't stay up. Our second child would throw fits if something was hard to put on, didn't stay up or was hard to take off. So we had been through many fits because of bad fits. When family asked what the kids needed, or needed gift ideas I would tell them "pants/skirts but they have to be adjustable." So as time went on we had lots of experience with different types of 'adjustable waistbands.' Each one, as a seamstress, I could see the benefits of but also the downsides on the user side of each type.
The elastic waist band: you had room to grow some but if it was too big there was no downsizing it. Easy to sew in though.
The drawstring: you can down size quite a bit, but when tied to keep the pants/skirt smaller was incredibly difficult to take off. (Many tears shed during potty training, some by me). Super easy to sew in a waistband.
The button hole elastic: WINNER! I loved these. you could make the waistband smaller but was still easy to take on and off! This was probably the most complicated waistband to sew, comparatively.
After using many types of waistbands with my kids the Button Hole Elastic waistband was my favorite type. Every time I saw pants or skirts with this waistband type it was instantly my favorite. From the perspective of a parent with young kids who are working on potty training, and beyond. Ease of use in something like clothing is so important for little people.
So as I was designing the Handkerchief skirt for girls, I knew that they needed a button hole waistband. Because as the Designer, Pattern maker and maker of these clothing pieces, they needed to be cute as well as functional. Without functionality, how would any lass be able to show her colorful self? Colorful Lassie she must be!
These skirts are made by a mother, for a mother and her child. One less tantrum, check mark. Find their favorite colors so they love to wear it? Even better.