Monday, January 17, 2011

Getting closer

I spent most of yesterday working on my trouser muslin after reading all of the Sew-Along information that the Cupcake Goddess's has been posting this last week.

My earlier post was my starting point. Whilst I don't want to bore you with what you might know, I found it very interesting to see the results as I did minor changes so I am warning you now that this is very photo heavy.

The Amazing Fit Patterns are chosen by your Body Measurements e.g Total Crotch Length and Back Crotch Length and it is these 2 figures that you use to determine whether you are Slim, Average, Curvy and this determines your pattern size which had me use 10 Slim. The trousers also sit 1.3cm or 1/2" below your waistline.

The first alteration I did was take a 6mm (total 1.2cm) or 2/8" tuck in the crotch depth which gave me a much better crotch depth:


The next alteration was to take 6mm or 2/8" off the inseams both front and back which took out the excess fabric in the legs, again much better:


Now I still had a baggy back so this is where Pants for Real People (page 38) advise you to pull the centre back up until they disappear, and they DO, can you tell I'm rather surprised.


Thankfully DH had arrived home so I asked him to draw on the muslin where the elastic was now sitting in relation to the thread marking that I had done initially and it was 2.3cm or 7/8" that needed to come off the centre back.

As these trousers have a contoured waistband, I thought a sway back adjustment of 1.2cm (total 2.4cm) or 1/2" would work, but I'm not sure about that as the pictures below show I've still got some wrinkles in the back. The front smile lines are because I was sitting in them for hours very comfortably.



I think I need to:
  • make a new muslin (have been adjusting the original) with the alterations I have done so far, but first,

  • read further into Pants for Real People and see if they deal with this adjustment for a contoured waistband as so far they are discussing a normal 2.5cm or 1" waistband and they just take it from the top of the trouser.

8 comments:

a little sewing said...

Great progress! It is always helpful to see the fitting process. I am so happy for you that you've such an exciting trip to Puyallup planned.

Alison said...

The pants look like they need a vertical tuck all the way from waist to hem. See page 31 in PPRP. Not sure what that does to the side seams though.

Gail said...

High my must do in 2011 list is to develop a tnt for trousers. Your efforts seem to be paying off. Enjoy the US conference - I am jealous.

Gay McDonell said...

Yes I think the Vertical tuck like Alison said will help - though the back wrinkles are really quite minimal - great work!

velosews said...

The back fit is really great. I believe it. The research you're doing is really paying off. The finished pants will look so well made.

Carol said...

Great progress indeed! I wish I had the patience for this. Like Gail, this is on my list of things to achieve this year.

sewistafashionista said...

Pulling up the center back! What an amazing trick. I will remember that one. :)

Tropical Threads said...

Hi, I have been following your blog for a while, and enjoying it :-)
I have been trying to get a TNT trousers pattern, and am finding your adventures in trouser fitting to be really interesting and helpful. All the photos really help too. I think I will go pull up the centre back of my trousers and see what happens too!

I have the same pattern you are using in my stash. Would you recommend trying it out instead of a more standard pattern draft/fit?