Finished Sewing Projects!

Here are two of the four that I have to post about. Both of these were done last week pre-accident so all I had to do was model them. I left off my head. I'm in a grumpy, dumpy mood. (You don't need to see it, nor would you want to.) Medical issues still plague me and that's why.

Anyway, first project is my leopard print skirt. It's just a simple, self-drafted pattern. You know the routine: measure your hips, add preferential ease, cut the width of the fabric to that amount, cut the length adding the hem and waist allowances and bam! You have the "pattern". I wore this outfit to church this morning. I was going to wear it with some fabulous heels I bought, but those will wait. Worry about tripping is one thing when you're healthy, but when you're not, it's a no go. Flat boots are a must.

The leopard print fabric is a mesh woven. The skirt is lined with a Bemberg-type of lining. The two layers sandwich the elastic at the top of the skirt. The black lining is about 3-4" shorter than the skirt for a "peekaboo" effect. I tried to show it in the pic below but don't know how evident it is. In the sunlight, the effect is more evident. I was actually ambitious enough to change the threads on my serger to do a rolled hem on the lining and the woven mesh fabric.

Here is the non-fancy, simple dimple, elastic waistband:

And here is the easy peasy rolled hem.

On to my elusive "perfect" pair of pants. They're not perfect yet, but they're getting there. The pants draft was from a Threads issue a couple of years ago. The pattern was self drafted from those instructions with tweaks from another Thread's article by Joyce Murphy on body space.

Before Christmas I ordered Marian Lewis' pants fitting book. The method she uses is not much different than what I did in Jean Haas' Darting Below the Beltline class, however, she does add some new info for the crotch area. I did NOT use the info in her book yet. At this point I just wanted to develop a basic custom block. Believe me, it actually looks like a Franken block 'cuz I have such a weird shaped body.

My plan now is to shave off another 1/2" from the back under the butt via a fisheye dart alteration since there is still a bit of baggy-ness in that area. I think my fuller right side is taking up more of the fabric than the left too. My posture isn't perfect in the pic for this post so I need to examine more of my back pics. Once that is done, then I'll create a separate right and left front and right and left back. This is a necessity for me. My right side of my body is both wider and fuller than my left with a bit of hip height discrepancy as well. This is partly what Marian discusses in her book. Ideally, for a great pair of pants I'd do well with a vertical seam down the middle of the back leg too. I'm trying to get a tradeoff at this point.

Another thing is I like my pants snug. There is almost no way I'm going to eliminate front wrinkles at the crotch with the fit I want, especially in the fabric I used. I could make the pants looser and the wrinkles would go away, but the baggy fit would bother me more than the wrinkles. Ah...the old tradeoff again. It is what is. I'm not going to obsess about these things, but ridding myself of most of the baggy butt wrinkles with my custom drafted pattern is my goal. Most, I say, because that fabric in the back also is ease. That doesn't make things easy. So I'll keep taking a smidge out of my draft, no more than a 1/2" each time. Give me another two or three pairs of pants and I think I have the almost perfect pair.

Here are the pants front:

Here's the pants back. Not perfect, getting there, but definitely better than RTW.

Next up are the shirts I finished two months ago. They need to be pressed before being modeled. Maybe tonight they'll at least get hit with the iron.

See ya tomorrow, hopefully!

The Learning Curve

After posting my weird-looking crotch curve as per my flexible ruler several days ago, I received my current copy of Sew News in the mail. Lo and behold, I found my crotch curve!!! It is on p. 33, bottom right labeled "Low Fanny". It looks just like mine in fact. It is in the article titled, "Pants". Not a whole lot to learn from the article because I've researched pants fit up, down, left, and right, but I did pick up one or two new bits of info.

One thing that has been bothering me lately. I look at PFRP (Pants for Real People) a lot, and it irritates me more and more that I'm not finding any examples of problem rear views like the ones that are discussed with pictures at Patternreview. IMO, a new book is in order. I'd like a new book dedicated to baggy seat issues for all figure types, examining crotch curves/crotch depth and length and how to correct to get a good fit. Especially with close-fitting pants like dress pants and jeans. Most of the pants that are detailed in the book are more like trousers and/or loose, semi-fitted slacks.

No progress on my capris yet. It's a very busy first week of school.

Personal Pants Draft

Today I worked on the pants draft from the January '08 Threads issue. I created both the front and the back from my own measurements. It was actually very easy to do as the instructions were very easy to understand and accurate.

The measurements are similar to my pattern that I worked on two days ago, except for the crotch curve. I'm cutting 2" side seams to play with in anticipation of having to fiddle with the curve.

I'm not going to have any time tomorrow to work on cutting anything out, so I'll just mull things over in my brain before cutting pants from my modifed pattern as well as the self-drafted one from Threads. This will certainly be interesting.

The Perfect Pair of Pants

I'm on my quest for it.

I made up the pajama pants 3 days ago for DD#2. I used my serger and sewed them in (a very surprising way for the slow sewer that I am) super speedy. My only issue: They don't fit her! However, they do fit me very nicely. I thought I used the 5/8" SA's on the pattern last time but mustn't have. She needs fine tuning at the side seams and I must have forgotten that. There's no room to let out for extra room with my serged seams either. Last time I do believe I pinfitted the pants on her first. Subsequently, they are too snug around the pants in the crotch area, 3" above and below. The good thing is, *I* now have a very nice-fitting pair of pajama pants. I'll take pics later.

The past two days I've been working diligently on drafting a nice-fitting pair of pants. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, I'm working on a pattern I've used before and rather like. Just working on tweaks, redesigning the crotch curve to match my own, etc.

I think there my still be some vertical fullness right below the crotch line. According the FFRP, it says to pinch out the excess to determine the amount, then take a tuck from waist to hem. Unfortunately, the excess is only in a 6 inch area. Above and below, the width of my pattern is fine. So what to do? I'll make these pants up again with all my alterations except for the tuck. Then decide if a tuck is warranted, but then I'll have to add width to the side seam above the crotchline and mid-thigh down to the hem. This will make for a VERY weird looking back piece on my pants.

The other option was to remove it from the back inseam at the top, tapering to 6" down. The only problem there is if I do that, I'll get wrinkles pointing to the inseam to let it back out. Solving one problem creates another. Really a catch 22.

Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and do a vertical seamline from waist to hem on the pants as a design detail. This will also help me tweak the area to reduce the fullness. So many options, don't know which route to take at this point.

But anyway, I'm going to finish my first pair of capris on the pattern and then move on to my cream-colored linen ones.

That's a plan :) !