PatternReview.com online sewing community
Join our community of 579,247 sewists!
SIGNUP Membership is free and includes 1 free lesson
Login |
Join our community of 579,247 sewists!
Signup | Login
To participate in the PatternReview.com forums please Login or Join PatternReview
123 
Member since 5/15/05
Posts: 1390
Send Message
Posted on: 6/20/06 10:41 PM ET
Last week I went to the PCM Sewing, Quilting & Embroidery Expo. It was the first time I ever experienced anything like this. We don't get a lot of sewing related events in Omaha, NE.
On Wednesday I took an all day fit class w/ Cynthia Guffey and really liked the class. On Friday I took a 4 hour class w/ Sandra Betzina on fitting jackets & pants. I absolutely loved her. I was so excited when I left and fired up to finally make myself a pair of pants that fit. Among many other things I discovered that I have been making too large of a size clothing when I sew for myself.

Well, I made a muslin and tried to address my biggest fit problem which is that my pants come so far down in back when I sit down that I look like one of the young boys I see walking around w/ their pants under their butts. Only they wear their pants like that on purpose. I'm a 54 year old grandma and it's not a pretty sight.

My muslin was better than before I took the class, but still have a long way to go. Since I cut a smaller size, no bagginess under my butt, hips and waist fit better, but even though I slashed the pattern and added to my crotch length, not enough and there is still about an inch of my underoos showing. The pattern I used for the muslin is a elastic/drawstring cargo pocket capri pant. I think it's Simplicity. I'd go dow to the sewing dungeon and look up the number, but I can't look at it again right now.

I have always sewn mostly for other people b/c it's easier for me to fit someone else than myself. Damnit! I'm going to figure this out if it kills me. I have an enormous stash of fabric, some of it begging to be made into good fitting pants.
Why oh why oh why does this have to be so difficult?
  
Member since 10/27/05
Posts: 5976
Send Message
Posted on: 6/20/06 11:00 PM ET
In reply to Mermie
Don't give up. Did you read about the Contour Clone in the "Patterns and Notions" thread tonight? If not, go read it, because it will lift your spirits and give you hope.

Have you checked "Fast Fit" or "Fit for Real People" books for help? Are your pants wide enough from side seam to side seam? It sort of sounds like you could add length at the top center waist (in back only) tapering to the sides.
  
Member since 5/15/05
Posts: 1390
Send Message
Posted on: 6/20/06 11:17 PM ET
In reply to ccris
I am re-reading PFRP and Fast Fit again right now. I need to add more to the back crotch and raise the center back up to cover my underwear, but I don't need to add to the hips or waist. In Sandra Betzina's class she said I needed to slash the back pattern in two places and add 5/8" in both slashed areas. I did that on the muslin, but it was not enough. I am slashing from the center back seam, spreading the pattern out 5/8" at the slash and adding tissue under the slash to add the 5/8" I'm not slashing all the way to the side seam, but leaving the back side seam sort of hinged and just adding at center back. Clear as mud?
Back to the drawing board.
I did read the thread about the Contour Clone. Sounds very interesting.
  
Member since 10/27/05
Posts: 5976
Send Message
Posted on: 6/20/06 11:26 PM ET
In reply to Mermie
It's very clear, because that's exactly how I added to my back rise when I altered pants for myself. But, from my memory, I had to slash and spread at least 2". Supposedly, you're not supposed to spread this much, but I did, and it worked out just fine. I don't, or rather I didn't have a big behind, but it's just the way I'm built. The slash acts much as a dart would. I trued up my side seam and cut out. I also had to shorten my front rise by about the same amount.

Edited to say you made me laugh. Mermie said, "I made a muslin and tried to address my biggest fit problem which is that my pants come so far down in the back when I sit down, etc." And then I looked at your subject which says, "Bummed out about fitting issues."


-- Edited on 6/20/06 11:36 PM --
  
Member since 7/2/04
Posts: 1725
Send Message
Posted on: 6/21/06 0:11 AM ET
Mermie,

I can't help you with your fitting issues, mine are different. But, I can offer you a giggle about the process. click here

ETA: I know you had a great time, Cynthia and SB are tremendous instructors.
-- Edited on 6/21/06 0:11 AM --
------
Mary Lynn (Who's finally sitting up and taking nourishment)

Design Degree??? I prefer my artistic license

"A woman who works with her hands is a laborer; a woman who works with her hands and her mind is a craftsman; but a woman who works with her hands and her brain and her heart is an artist." (St. Thomas Aquinas, modified)

  
Member since 11/6/04
Posts: 234
Send Message
Posted on: 6/21/06 0:31 AM ET
In reply to ccris
Quote: ccris
. . .I had to slash and spread at least 2". Supposedly, you're not supposed to spread this much, . . .

I DO have a large derriere and until I found Khalia Ali pants patterns, I had to spread the behind 3"!!!

You are clearly on the right track, Mermie, so take a break ane rest up and then go back and spread the pattern a bit more.

Also, whenever I make pants for a new person (and still, for myself with a new pattern) I always add a couple of inches to the top of the pants. Then, when everything else has been fit as well as I possibly can, I put an elastic around the waist, mark the waist line and finish the top of pants from this line. My waist line contour is wierd -- low at the front and then curves up starting just in front of the side seams and highest across the middle of the back.

Hang in there!!
cheers
jean
  
Member since 7/11/05
Posts: 3783
Send Message
Posted on: 6/21/06 2:34 AM ET
In reply to Mermie
Mermie,

For pants fitting there is an OP at McCall's but available on the Palmer Pletsch Website, 3 hour trouser pattern with a fitting shell and instructions that I found extremely helpful. It is much of the same stuff you find in FFRP, but the shell pattern takes you step by step through the process and, at the end of it all, you have your own trouser sloper. (It's #2953.)

Palmer Pletsch OP patterns
------
I am going for a level of perfection that is only mine... Most of the pleasure is in getting that last little piece perfect...Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just keep showing up and doing the work.

Chuck Close, painter, printmaker, photographer

Hope has two lovely daughters: Anger and Courage

St. Augustine
  
Member since 12/17/05
Posts: 98
Send Message
Posted on: 6/21/06 3:05 AM ET
In reply to tlmck3
Yeah actually I've got a super-vintage pattern, uncut, devised by Pletch, on getting the perfect fit without all the crazy measurements...you're supposed to cut it out on 1/2" checkered gingham and baste it together, letting out where appropriate....really weird pattern to say the least!

Interested?
  
Member since 7/11/05
Posts: 3783
Send Message
Posted on: 6/21/06 5:14 AM ET
In reply to DorkyChic
I've just done slopers for myself for both pants and the "basic" fitted bodice/skirt with those and they're great for learning where your fitting issues are and how to fix them. I used plain muslin for the pants and a striped muslin for the other (it shouldn't be a CHORE to find plain checked gingham for $1.00 a yard but it is.)
The PP one for pants that I have is from the 1990s, I think. Super easy because it has 1/4 tucks basted in between the waist and crotch curve and again along the crotch curve and yet again along the back of each leg. You just pull the lines of stitching out one by one until the fit is right.
I use the pants one a lot to lay it against other patterns to see where I need to re-draw lines or lengthen various parts of the pattern. Ditto for the skirt of the basic (I didn't sew it to the bodice but kept them separate.)
The bodice is useful, too, mostly for the shoulder fit but I have a Duct tape dummy for tissue fitting that I use more for tops and fitting through the bust and hips, so I can see the drape.
------
I am going for a level of perfection that is only mine... Most of the pleasure is in getting that last little piece perfect...Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just keep showing up and doing the work.

Chuck Close, painter, printmaker, photographer

Hope has two lovely daughters: Anger and Courage

St. Augustine
  
Member since 1/26/03
Posts: 3678
Send Message
Posted on: 6/21/06 6:49 AM ET
In addition to all these great suggestions I think you need the help of another person. It's easier to fit someone else because you can see from every angle and adjust easily. It's nearly impossible to get a good view of and make an adjustment to your own derriere.


------
Buy the best and you only cry once.

  
123 
* Advertising and soliciting is strictly prohibited on PatternReview.com. If you find a post which is not in agreement with our Terms and Conditions, please click on the Report Post button to report it.
Selected Reviews, Classes & Patterns
Fancy Frocks Fabrics
Fine Designer Fabrics
Elliott Berman Textiles
High-end Fashion Fabrics
Specials!
Nature's Fabrics
Natural & Organic Fabrics
Specials!