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Member since 12/14/04
Posts: 71
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Posted on: 12/9/07 8:04 PM ET
I am on my umpteenth try at fitting pants, and I seem to be going in circles. I have made a muslin, starting with a pattern made from a pair of RTW pants that fit okay. That seemed to have the right circumference at all points, and I added & subtracted wedges to the length as needed to get what I thought was a pretty good fit (only the right leg has been altered.)



I transfered all these changes to my pattern, and cut a new muslin.



Ick! this new muslin has all the same problems that I altered to fix in the original version (rise too long in front & too short in back, wrinkles at back thigh, etc.). What am I doing wrong?

The main changes I made to the first muslin were to add length to the back above the crotch curve, shorten the front above the crotch curve, and add a wedge to the inseam at the upper thigh (Debbie Cook's X-wrinkle adjustment, AKA the knock knee adjustment), and insert a long vertical wedge to the front leg for heavy front thighs. I still had lots of bagginess under the seat, so I also did a fish eye dart, which looked like it worked pretty well in the first muslin, but somewhere between the first muslin, the pattern and the second try, all those improvements seem to have disappeared.

I appreciate any advice, and many thanks to those who have posted about pants alterations before -- pouring over those messages has helped me greatly to get this far!

(edited to fix the photo links)

-- Edited on 12/9/07 8:33 PM --
  
Member since 7/28/03
Posts: 1405
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Posted on: 12/10/07 11:19 AM ET
In reply to sewing bee
Scratching my head?? The first muslin looks pretty darn good on the right leg, which you say is the only one you altered.

Different fabrics will behave differently, perhaps this could be part of it?

Anyway, I'm replying mainly to bump this so someone with more experience might take a stab at it.
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Suo ergo maledicto

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. - Steve Jobs
  
Member since 5/26/05
Posts: 235
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Posted on: 12/10/07 3:01 PM ET
It's kind of hard to differentiate between the problems with the pattern, and the changes you made - but on both pairs the inseam is TOO long, meaning either drop the back crotch. or both front and back; or lengthen the outer seam above the hips.
  
Member since 12/9/04
Posts: 415
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Posted on: 12/10/07 5:25 PM ET
I can't help you with fit suggestions. But on the last pants I did instead of going back to the paper pattern again and again, I made a muslin. Then I carefully marked the seam lines, took the whole thing apart and laid it flat on pattern paper. I put big tracing paper under it and used a tracing wheel and marked the lines. I used that as my pattern. Or you can use just the muslin and mark pant fabric with tracing paper. Somehow I can't ever fully and accurately transfer changes that well to paper. But that's me.
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'Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.' Oscar Wilde
  
Member since 12/14/04
Posts: 71
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Posted on: 12/10/07 9:08 PM ET
Martha, can you clarify? I had added to the inseam in the first version to get rid of those wrinkles below the butt -- I was thinking the inseam was too short in both muslins, and that I needed to add more length to the inseam. (I also added to the side seam above the hip -- prior to this set of photos), which did get rid of some wrinkles pointing to my outer hip.
  
Member since 5/26/05
Posts: 235
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Posted on: 12/11/07 6:58 AM ET
It might be only the left side - your hips might be uneven, because I see this on both pairs - left side only - anyway, the wrinkle is going at a diagonal pointing from the inseam in the direction of the hip - can you see how lowering that fabric would bring the grain back evenly?

It means you need more length on the left outer seam. If you pull the pants down on that side, it should straighten out. It means there is a conflict between the inseam and outseam lengths - one is too short; or one is too long.
  
Member since 11/25/04
Posts: 291
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Posted on: 12/13/07 5:07 PM ET
In reply to sewing bee
I love that stripey muslin fabric! What a cool idea.
I have no idea what I am doing with pants but I played with your pic! I would like to think I am learning to "read the wrinkles"


I would love ppl to check if I am reading it right!
and I like playing in photo shop!

Looking at the brown pants.........the floor level isnt straight but the right hip is still higher then the floor level if that makes sense.
Does this mean that your right hip is higher than your left?
Could that be a cause of the probs?
cheers
Jan
  
Member since 12/14/04
Posts: 71
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Posted on: 12/13/07 8:17 PM ET
Hi Jan,

Thanks for the ”graphic critique“ of the wrinkles (and stripes)! The striped muslin has been really helpful, wish I had some more to play with.

I agree with most of your notes. A and B are the parts I was happy with. I had only made the under butt adjustments on the right leg, so “D” is the “before” view, and “B” the result of the changes. I actually added to the length of the inseam to get to B, rather than shorten it.

And yes, after looking at more pictures of my back end than I care to remember, I have realized that the left hip is higher, so I need more on that side seam (C). I should probably fit to the left side, and take it in on the right, but it's always been easier to bend and pin on the right side, so I have been making all my changes to that side.

I have pulled apart the brown muslin and am working on that again. So far, I have had a lightbulb moment when I look at the back, and tug the side seams down at the hip to get it to hang straight, and then turn around and tug it back up at the sides so the front hangs straight. I seem to need more length on the side seams for the back only -- it messes up the front to add equally to the front & back side seam -- it makes the front leg angle in and a bubble of loose fabric develops at the front crotch. Not pretty! So I need to figure out how to get more length at the back side without adversely affecting the front. I am trying to see if I can ease in a bit of extra length on the back at the side seam. If that doesn't work, I may add a yoke to sneak in a horizontal dart in the back. Right now my muslin is looking good from hip to knee, but I have so many wedges in the legs that below the knee is completely twisted off grain. I think I'll need to cut the muslin at the knee and add a new bottom, so I can figure out what that needs to look like. Hopefully I'll have another set of photos in a day or two.

Annie

  
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