Well, this is a new one on me. I’ve been working on the eternal problem of fitting pants to my shifting figure and thought I finally had it settled. I tried drafting a new pattern that took into account my tummy, my apple bottom, my slightly bowed legs, and all the other minutiae that make the side seam twist around to my inner ankle.
The paper pattern looked great. The cutout fabric looked great. The first-leg try-on looked great. The completed pants looked great–until I realized there was a sizable gusset hanging between my legs. Simple, I think, sew it out and they’ll be perfect. So I did. Twice. Now I’m back to the same fitting problems I always have–too long in the crotch and wrinkles radiating out from the fanny.
Does anybody have any idea what causes this, and more importantly how to fix it?
Thanks in advance for any input.
Tatsy
Replies
I'm no pants fitting expert. From where did the "gusset" come? Wouldn't wrinkles across the fanny indicate that there is not enough fabric across the back hip?
Maybe. It seems to have more to do with the grainline, which was perfect except for the gusset. Once that was cut out the crotch length was way too big and the waist was two inches too high.
When you "sewed out" the excess fabric, how did you do that? Did you take wider seams in the upper legs of the pants (inseam), or did you take wider seams in the crotch curve? If the latter, you would increase the space in the crotch, rather than decrease it. If the former, it would make the crotch shorter. It's hard to figure this one out - the radiating wrinkles sound like a too-short back crotch. A lot of rtw pants that fit well have a much, much shorter crotch in the front than in the back.
Edited 2/3/2009 7:44 pm ET by Josefly
Thanks for the info. I'm go to try working with it again. I was desperate to get some pants finished for a trip and ran out of time.
I'm no expert but wrinkles point to the problem. Since the pants fit in back before you discovered the gusset I would guess the gusset fix had the unintended effect of shortening the back crotch while lengthening the front. Did you consider taking a larger seam only from the front inseam down the leg, or pulling the front up at the waistband. I'm not actually clear where the extra fabric is. Good luck.
Thank you for replying. Most of what happened is that by sewing out the gusset the crotch sank into a narrower part of the leg. On the trip I realized that the front crotch depth should be much shorter than it was. After I get things squared away from the trip, I will start on this again. It really has a lot to do with the grainline of the pants.
This post is archived.