Hi, I hope some of you smart sewers can help me.
I have been watching a very old video tape of fitting using the Pivot and Slide
technique by Nancy Zieman. Feeling like I could do this I made a muslin sample pair
of pants using the largest size of a multi- sized pattern. I think the pants would be
OK if I could take out the bagginess in the legs, make the waist 2″ smaller but how
do I eliminate the “crotchy”roll under the zipper? Nancy advocates buying a pants
pattern by the waist measurement on the pattern, about two sizes smaller than
your actually size. By pivoting the pattern from the waist it’s easy to add inches to
the hip and then pivot back to the original smaller size, that method makes for
a better fitting leg which isn’t so baggy. I guess my question is: do I make the
crotch the same as my measurement there? If I do that should I add ease and if
so, how much? Would that ‘crotchy” thing be eliminated if I shortened the pants
pattern from the crotch area up (to thewaist)? There is a horizontal line in that
area to lengthen or shorten but if you shorten it there it interfers with the fly and
makes that shorter too. I’m determined to make myself a well fitted pair of pants!
Confused Buckeye in Ga.
Replies
The last or next to last Threads (#139) has an article by Joyce Murphy on fitting pants. This is a link to an extra. ttp://www.taunton.com/threads/pages/t00251.asp
This is another article she had in Threads #122 Jan. 2006 http://www.taunton.com/threads/pages/th_122_036.asp She has you use a pattern by the hip measurment and make it up as is from the pattern then do fitting following a certain order as is listed in the article.
I've been working on a pair using her ideas and think they are going to be better. I had added to the crotch point as in other methods and ended up taking it back out and sewing a deeper seam in the back curve to increase the crotch length. It doesn't seem so big in the bottom. I actually folded one leg inside the other the way she shows in the second link above and could see where it was too big and not shaped right for me. I also think that some patterns have the inseam on the front and back the same length. If the back inseam is 1/2 inch shorter, at least, and then stretched starting about halfway from the knee to the crotch to fit the front inseam it works out better and pulls in a little so it isn't so baggy. I also took some out in the crotch depth which helped. It shortened the fly some so had to shorten the zipper length, too.
There are some more suggestions in the Fitting thread under "questions about pants fitting" 9176.1. When I checked back just now it was under this question on the topics list.
Edit: I said waist measurment and it should have been hip measurment to use for the pattern. I changed it above. Sorry. She has another article in #119, July 2005 which is the first in the series.
Edited 11/15/2008 9:29 pm by cafms
Edited 11/15/2008 11:31 pm by cafms
To Cafms
You've answered the question I had about the new size on the zipper, that was one
thing I wondered about. Today, after all that measuring, I'm going to see if I can
copy a good fitting RTW pair of pants. All day yesterday I made a new pattern but
looking at it on the table it still looks like it would have those baggy legs, I'll see how
it compares with the RTW pair. The sewing part is easy, it's this fitting that's driving
me nuts and wasting soooooo much time...I want to get to the sewing but know this
is a prerequisite to the fun part, designing pants. I'll check out those sites after this Thank You letter.
I totally agree. The sewing is easy. If I didn't spend so much time thinking about the problems then standing in front of the mirror trying to see what is wrong I'd have a whole wardrobe of pants. But I'm hopeful this pair will be the miracle pants. Then I have to get busy before I change size and make some more.
You won't believe this but yesterday I took a perfectly good pair of RTW pants apart to use as my "best fit pattern". I was getting so frustrated and when I get that way I avoid the problem and find something else less brain twisting to do.
The last straw was when my VCR started eating my videos and I couldn't go back and watch Nancy Ziemans "Pattern Fitting with Confidence". I think I'm still procrastinating because I went outside and planted two Leyland Cypress trees fand turned the compost pile. It's in the 40's here in N.W. Georgia. Tomorrow.......I promise myself, I can't stand looking at the dining room table any longer.
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