Date: 11/5/09 4:59 PM

I need some help figuring out what kind of alteration I need.

I spent this week's evenings playing with my muslin but could not come up with a solution.
The problem: wrinkles in the back.
(the front fits well)

click here to see the back with no alteration at all. (I am very sorry about the black underwear but I had meant the pictures to be just for my reference).

I suppose the problem is a low derriere . Therefore I tried to lower and "move around" the back crotch in many different ways but nothing seemed to really help much.
click here to see my last alteration (it's the dark stitching line - please do not consider the many colored lines: they are a few of the previous alterations). This is what it looks like on me: click here. Maybe a bit better, but there are still wrinkles.

Now, if I pull up the waist at center back, the wrinkles disappear: click here.
What I can't figure out is what kind of alteration corresponds to that. Can you please help me?

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Monica

Date: 11/6/09 1:20 PM

Lower the back waist on the pattern by the amount you pulled up.

This is fine tuning -- yes you made the wrinkles under the butt go away.

Reply to mochimo
Date: 11/6/09 1:40 PM

What I can't figure out is what kind of alteration corresponds to that. Can you please help me?

Mochimo,

I believe either OPGal or Ody posted a reason for this. I have downloaded many threads regarding pants fitting and one of these gals took a class from Cynthia Guffrey (spelling?). Cynthia said that when you pull your pants up in the back, you are making room for your hips.

I have spent years trying to get pants to fit. Along the way I have discovered that when "hips" are discussed (for me at least) what it really means is the shape of my fanny. We all have different fanny shapes which is why fitting pants can be so difficult. My best guess is that when you pulled your pants up, the material pulled up was a bit wider so it would cover your fanny and lay better on your backside - you were pulling up the rise of your pants. This pulling up also changed how the pants fit you through the center of your body - the crotch extensions of the front and back pieces were placed better between your legs.

There is a wealth of information on this site regarding pants fitting. You can do a search on many words relating to this issue - crotch, pants, high hip pants, etc. However, I think your last picture shows that you have solved the wrinkle problem. This muslin looks great.

Woggy

Reply to mochimo
Date: 11/6/09 3:09 PM

In your first photo, in the upper part of the back pant, those diagonal wrinkles from your cheeks up to your side waist (or 'high hip') are saying that the waist and upper hips are a little too tight and the sides of the pants are being forced upward over the hip curve. It indicates to me that you need to open the side seams down to about four inches below the waist and smooth those diagonal wrinkles downward at the side seam. This will lower the waist at the side, so for your next pair you will probably have to add a teeny bit to the top of the side seam.

As to the wrinkles under the butt, it would be helpful to have a side view. However, the interlocking V shapes of those wrinkles point to excess fabric below your seat (what happens when you pull the back up illustrates the same thing). One of the causes for wrinkles of this type is a flat behind. Those with flat backsides often do not fill out the alloted back length of the pattern, which is perhaps a bit difficult to understand, but here's an illustration:

Mentally lay a length of fabric on your floor. Now, picture what happens to that length if you put a beach ball under the fabric: It gets shorter because some of the length is taken up by roundness of the beach ball. Quite a number of ladies do not have enough beach ball to fill out the back length of their pants patterns, and the result is sagginess below the beach ball.

One cure is Debbie Cook's Fish Eye Dart.

A similar method is Ann Rowley's Flat Seat Adjustment.
-- Edited on 11/6/09 3:18 PM --

Reply to mochimo
Date: 11/6/09 5:47 PM

>>if I pull up the waist at center back, the wrinkles disappearWhat I can't figure out is what kind of alteration corresponds to that.

You have done really well so far! Now all you need to do is undo the back waistband from side seam to side seam (where it attaches to the pants) and sew the waistband on lower at the CB, tapering back to nothing by the side seams. Try 3/8" to start with and see how you go.

Once you work out the amount, chop this same amount off the top of the back pattern piece, at the waist edge. This is your alteration. HTH

Edited for clarity

-- Edited on 11/6/09 5:49 PM --

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Belinda. Melbourne, Australia
http://sew-4-fun.blogspot.com/
**Sew for the fun of it**

Date: 11/7/09 5:03 PM

Thank you ALL for your help!

Lowering the waistband at center back... Now that you've told me, it seems it shouldn't have been so difficult to figure out

Unfortunately, today I had a busy day. No sewing. I just managed to put on my muslin, lower the waistband at CB and unstitch the side seams from waist to hips. And indeed, they spread open! And do you know what I noticed? I do not only have a flat and low seat, I also have a tummy! In my first post I wrote the front fitted well - and I really thought so - but now I noticed that the grainline mark wasn't straight in the tummy area. (besides, I'm planning to make these pants using a pinstripe fabric, so it will be even more important to have the grainline fall straight).
Therefore, I added a bit (less than 3/8") at the front side seams. Seems it works.

In spite of these alterations, there was still a bit of wrinkling under the butt. I pinned out a small fish-eye dart and tomorrow - hopefully - I will try to alter the pattern and see what happens.

In my first post silly me forgot to mention that when I pulled up the pants at center back the wrinkles did disappear, but the CB seam was also pulled up a bit between my buttocks (which is both uncomfortable und unsightly).
What do you suggest to correct this? (I already scooped out the crotch a lot and I am afraid that more would be too much).

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Monica

Date: 11/7/09 5:44 PM

Two questions before I make any suggestions about the back wrinkles:

If you pull down at the sides instead of up in the center back do the wrinkles go away?

If you stand with your feet further apart do the wrinkles go away?

Ruth

Reply to RMJ
Date: 11/8/09 8:53 AM

Hi Ruth

1) The wrinkles are slightly less marked if I pull down at the sides instead of pulling up at center back.
2) They don't go away if I stand with my feet further apart.

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Monica

Reply to mochimo
Date: 11/8/09 10:49 AM

I think you have much the same problem as I do - pulling up at the waist solves some but not all of it because doing that, as you say, tightens the centre back seam.
In my case the answer is first and foremost the flat seat alteration that has already been mentioned, combined possibly with extra width in the outseams at low hip/thigh level, and possibly also a longer crotch seam hook at the back - maybe some scooping out but essentially a lengthening of the back curve at the inseam. But the flat seat alteration is the really crucial one.
If the wrinkles tend to go away if you stand a little bent forward with your bum stuck out a bit you will know you need the flat seat solution.
Hope this helps
Anne

Reply to mochimo
Date: 11/8/09 11:10 AM

Based on your answers to my two questions, I'm afraid the potential solution I had in mind probably won't help. Good luck. Your are really very, very close.
Ruth