I think that in any endeavor like learning to sew, and learning good fitting techniques, that it is important to have failures AS WELL AS successes. And since I am documenting this journey, I will document my failures as well as successes, in hopes that it may help someone else on their journey.
If you recall, this is what my last pair looked like:
Pretty good, right? Some small wrinkles on the back of the thigh, but nothing major. Well, I told myself that what I needed to do was extend that crotch just...a....bit....more to get rid of those wrinkles.
And guess what?
I was wrong!!!
What I did instead was add so much fabric to that center crotch seam, I made it look like I had a penis!
So, I guess it's strangely appropriate that this pair was exactly the same color as a pair of Dickie's? Ok, that was a bad joke, but here you can see just how far forward that inseam comes:
So, I decided it was back to the drafting table. I needed to take out that last addition. I also decided that I wanted to shift some of the length of that crotch curve to the front pattern piece so that the inseam wouldn't slope so much to the front.
Here you can see the back pattern piece. The first green line represents the placement of the inseam for the brown pair that worked well:
But, I am going to shift the inseam back to this line:
And transfer some of that length to the front piece:
Bringing that point out from the original location here:
I am also going to add some width to the back leg to try and get rid of the last of the wrinkles that way:
So, we will see how that comes out. In the meantime though I am kind of exhausted with pants right now and am going to work on a fun charmeuse shirt. A little hint for working with charmeuse? Starch, and lots of it. I start out by hanging the fabric over the shower rod and just spray, spray, spraying it with starch. Here is the fabric all covered with starch:
Once it is treated it is pretty stiff and doesn't slither all over the table while you are trying to cut it. If you look really closely in this pic, you can see where the fabric has creased like paper while it was folded:
Once you are done sewing, just pop it in the washing machine, all the starch comes out, and the charmeuse returns to normal!
13 comments:
Michelle, I have been following your quest for the perfect pants and can feel your frustration. But I really had to laugh at the picture of the latest pair, just too funny. I hope the adjustment you made works out better this time.
Thanks for the tip on starching the charmeuse. I have 2 pieces that I have been putting off working with but now I'm think I'll give it a try.
You are a trooper and give you kudos for continuing your quest for the perfect pants.. You are my shero! Thanks for the charmeuse technique.
Oh my goodness- that gave me quite the chuckle! Thanks for showing us the bad along with the good- makes us all feel human I'm sure! I've loved your quest for the perfect pants and have loved seeing your progress. I haven't been brave enough to tackle pants for myself yet...did a pair for sis but not for me yet. When I do I'm definitely looking back over your posts for ideas!
Those are pretty funny and I loved your "bad joke" keep it up I think the perfect fit is only 1 pair away.
Michelle you are so close. I do agree that you should take a break and do some other fun stuff. After that get right back in the saddle. The "penis crotch " isn't a good look on any woman but boy was it funny! I can't believe that I had such quick success with my slacks using your tutorial and am working on my third wearable pair.
Dickies--ha! Good to keep a sense of humor when trying to work out a problem. You were so close before. You'll get there again.
Boy oh boy, have I been where you've been. Muslin after muslin after muslin. Fitting book after fitting book. But I found the solution and I heartily recommend it to you: see if you can find a Palmer/Pletsch trained instructor in your area have her fit pants on you. I did that last fall (it wasn't at all expensive) and I now have a perfect base pants pattern. If you can't find someone trained in your area, plan a trip to Austin and I'll hook you up with my pants fitting goddess. :-)
While I'm doling out unsolicited advice...for your challenging kitty: www.scoe10x.com = magic! (NAYY)
Oh, what a good belly laugh I had with that last pair of pants. I guess that does prove that too much of a 'good' thing sometimes brings on disaster! Thanks for sharing that with us.
Good luck with the charmeuse. You deserve a break from the pants journey.
I think you are right to add width to the leg in back. I would add the width to the inner leg. Fitting instructions usually tell us to taper back to the original seam above the knee, when we add to the back crotch length. But I find I need to carry the width further and taper back to the original seam line below the knee. You could add the width to the inner leg all the way to the hem and then fine tune it at the fitting stage.
Those Dickies were just too funny! I get totally lost in the changes you're making. Sure wish this all made sense to me. I may have to take another trip to Austin to the fitting guru.
Hello, I've just stumbled on your blog, and have to comment because that weird thing happening in the front crotch happened to me when I was fitting pants for myself recently after adding to the back crotch hook. I fixed it by deepening the front crotch curve. Could be worth a try!
Your blog is sooo helpful! I am relatively new to sewing and I love your starch idea. What kind of starch do you use? Does it matter?
Thanks so much! GL with your pants!
Hi Rebecca! In answer to your question, I use the grocery store starch, usually whatever brand is on sale! I usually get the "heavy duty," though.
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