Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Better than RTW, but

My pair of Vogue pants is better than anything I can buy in the shops, but it still has issues in the back. The holy grail of pants fitting, sigh.

I did change the pattern, made another muslin and thought I had the fit issues solved.

This is a picture after my daughter pinned the back. I did sew the altered line, and it seemed good. Then I decided to make a pair without all the nice details first, as I need a few basic pants for summer. And the result is a bit disappointing in the back. I hate those lines and the crotch seamline isn't good either (and I did change that like Nancy K suggested).

Why is it that the muslin seems right, and the final garment is not as expected? I want my next pair (on which I plan to do all the detailed work with piping) to be good!

8 comments:

  1. Hi Sigrid, I have been making jeans lately and had similar fit difficulties. My first pair was exactly as you describe "better than RTW but...".

    I agree with you that your first muslin does look good, the only difference I can see is the fabric. Perhaps the weight, drap or give of the two fabrics is affecting the fit? Just guessing really.

    If you are happy to try another muslin, the changes that worked for me were to shorten the crotch length in the back and taper this down the inside thigh seam. I also pinned a dart in the mid back leg (more or less where I could grab hold of the loose folds). There are pics showing the adjustments on p55 of the PR jeans forum. You would need to do this instead of the horizontal dart, as I don't think both would work together.

    I still really like your first pair :)

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  2. I have had these issues too, and I found that I needed to remove more, also read add more body space, than I ever thought. I hate to say this, but more than one muslin is usually necessary. For me, more like 3. That's why I have my tnt pattern and just draft details. I have a very strange looking hip line, which works even though it looks strange. The pinning out that I was talking about was a vertical tuck at the cb and then you add back at the hip what you took out at cb. It sounds counter intuitive, but it works so that the ease remains the same. This gives you more room for your body. If you have a flexible ruler, or make one out of tin foil, it needs to be thick enough to keep it's shape, fit it around your crotch from waist to waist, and then carefully remove it and you can compare it to the shape of your pattern front and back. It will be very clear that you need more body space or less depending on your body. If you do a search on PR someone posted a tip about this.

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  3. Bonjour Sigrid, pants are so difficult to fit. From your pink muslin to your pants, something happened on the hip line and with the crotch line if I am seeing well on the pictures?(which happens to me all the time. My bible for pants fitting is a book published by Singer and now available by an other company called "Sewing pants that fit" Their fitting suggestions do miracles for me. Do not loose faith, your are such an excellent sewist, you will conquer the mountain !

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  4. Try this: Let out the back inseam only, from the crotch down. See if the wrinkles disappear. If so, then take in the outer seam in that area until you have the width in the leg that you want.

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  5. You can make these look better by scooping out the back crotch seam. Do it 1/4' at a time, though you'll need to take out a lot probably, but a small amount at a time is safer.

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  6. Hi Sigrid! Unfortunately I have no advice to offer as I am so not an expert with pants - precisely because I find the fitting process to be so frustrating.
    You seem to have gotten good advice here and I hope you'll manage to make these pants work.
    Your first pair still does look better than RTW, as you said! It looks great and very professional, and so classy.
    Good luck! and happy sewing :)

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  7. Oh the perils of fabric! There are some fabrics that just don't like to co-operate and have there own ideas. :) It happens to the best of us. You could alter again but then the next fabric may give you wrinkles somewhere else. I tell you it's a conspiracy! Forget about it and move on. You can't see your own buttocks when walking around. :) As you said yourself they are better than RTW so wear them and be happy.

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  8. Pants are such a pain to fit! The muslin in your post looks good, it's a shame it hasn't worked for you. I cna't offer much advice, but I have found the Palmer-Pletsch book 'pants for real people' helpful. Good luck!

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