Jean Muslin: Take 2

The last pair I made were to tight, so I went up a size.  These fit better in the hips, but now they're to big in the waist.  Since it's usually easier to take in a larger size, I'm going to work with this muslin.  I'm running out of time so I may not get them to fit perfectly but if I can get them at least wearable without crotch lines and fix the waist, I'll be happy.

The front looks ok.  I will need to drop the waist band a little and move the pockets, but other than that I don't think there's to much to fix there.  The back, well that's going to take a little work.  First things that come to mind is scooping out the back crotch.  I don't have a wedgie now,  but if I pull up the back to make the balance line straight I will.  I'm also thinking I might need to add to the back inseams to get rid of the wrinkles coming from my inner thighs. So that's what I'm going to work on the next couple days.  Keep your fingers crossed that I don't cause more problems.

Jean Muslin: Take 1

I started working on jean pattern yesterday.  I'm working on Connie Crawford's Woman's Jean pattern Butterick B5403.  I was a little leery of starting this because I had read some bad reviews, and still being fairly new at fitting pants I was worried I might be in over my head. 

I chose my size based on my measurements and traced it.  I got a little concerned when I noticed the size I was tracing didn't allow for any ease in the hips.  I know jeans are suppose to be close-fitting, but the pattern was listed for 2 sizes, with no ease at the smaller size which meant -2" of ease at the bigger size.  I thought this had to be a mistake because the folks at Pattern Review kept saying when 2 sizes are listed like that, the pattern should have enough ease for the larger size.  And since my measurement was just an inch smaller than the smaller pattern recommendation I thought it would be ok.  I was wrong.

I didn't make any changes to the pattern yet.  I wanted to see how it was going to fit right out of the package.  The first thing I noticed is it's to tight in the hips.  The other thing that really jumps out at me is the back crotch.  I need to scoop it out a little to get rid of that wedgie, and I might need to add a little to the inner thigh.  The bottom of the back yoke feels really low.    First I'm going to try going up a size and see how that looks.

Back to the cutting table.

A sewing success!

A few weeks ago I when shopping looking mostly for jeans but I also looked at capris.  I found a few pair that I really liked however they didn't fit.  Then a light bulb went off and I realized I could make something similar with the capri pattern I was working on.  I pulled out my cell phone and took pictures from every angle and close ups of the details I wanted to copy.  When I got home I uploaded the cell phone pics to the computer I found they were mostly useless.  Blurry, I was in a rush because the sales clerk kept knocking on the door asking how I was doing, and the back shot was completely useless because trying to take a pic of one's backside in a mirror over your shoulder without looking is almost impossible.  I tried to sketch to the best of my ability (I'm no artist) the capri details, and had a fairly good representation but I was still missing somethings.

 A few days later I got an email from the online version of the store I was at alerting me to an upcoming sale.  Although I have sort of a love/hate relationship with this store (at this particular time it was in the strongly dislike phase) I decided to take a look and there they were.  The capris I wanted to copy.  All the angles I needed.  I tried downloading the pics but they were copyrighted, so I had to print pages and pages to get the pics I needed.

After doing a few final tweaks to my capri pattern, this weekend I went to work on my copied version of the capris.  Mine aren't exactly like the rtw ones, I guess in the end I used them more for inspiration than anything.  I really didn't care for the zipper in the side of the leg, because it was useless.  It didn't open to a hidden pocket, it was just there, almost like they were trying to hide a fabric flaw or a cutting mistake.  I did like the felled seams on the side pockets and decided to incorporate that into the back pockets as well.  On the original the front pockets were sewn on the outside, and I thought about doing that but wasn't sure how that would look with the waist darts that I have on my pattern.  Maybe if I can find a pattern with a flat front, I'd consider front patch pockets.  I thought about doing the top stitching around the pocket and knee, but by the time I got the pockets sewn on I forgot about it and then decided it would look silly with it.  I love the finished product and can't wait to wear them, I just wish the weather would cooperate.

Up next: Going to try making my own jeans.

  

Building my fabric stash

With finishing my one pair of pants last week and they actually look wearable, I'm still working on a decent pair of capris, I got excited and went on a fabric splurge.  I have 8 yards of  linen/cotton blend in the tan, which really is more brown than tan, 5 yards of cotton/poly twill in the blue, 6 yards of cotton twill in the olive green, and a 24 yard bolt of 12 oz denim for jeans.  The last time I bought a bolt of denim like this it lasted for years.  Unless I really get into making jeans this bolt should last me the rest of my life.  I plan on making pants in all of these and I possibly have enough of some fabrics to make more than one.

Cheap & easy VS learning though experience

My mom has sewed since she was a teenager.  Growing up she sewed for me and my sister.  She has an amazing ability to look at a thrift store sheet and turn it into something wonderful.  But yesterday when she was showed me a pair of thrift store capri pants that she wasn't that happy with I was scratching my head in wonder why wouldn't she taper them in slightly and hem them up if that's what was bugging her.

As we discussed the pair of pants I spend the last 3 months working on and recently finished, it dawned on me why she wouldn't try to fix them.  Although she has decades of sewing experience, she stopped sewing for herself when things started to require a bit more work to get them to fit.  Knowing how much time I put into my pants she asked if it would of been easier/cheaper to just go buy a pair.

Short answer, maybe, long answer, not really.  I didn't start this project looking for a quick and easy fix.  I knew when I started I didn't know what I was doing and set out to learn; because I felt my options for ready to wear pants were limited.  I'm not willing to spend $70+ for a pair of jeans, and I'm not ready to go with all elastic waist pants.  As my daughter pointed out, "Those are Grandma Pants."  I've never been to worried about keeping up with the latest fashions, but I still have ideals of what I like and what I think look good in and I just wasn't finding it in the stores.

Thanks to all my hard work and the help and guidance of some wonderful women, on the internet, who were very patience and took the time to point out my mistakes and how to fix them, I now have a pattern that I know fits and doesn't look half bad, and  I can make design changes for different looks.  Depending on what kind of fabric I use, I can make dress pants, casual summer capris, or work pants all from one pattern.  I also gained the knowledge and confidence to tackle fitting a jean pattern for myself.  When you weigh the skills I learned and the multiple pattern options against the cost of the fabric, my time, and the frustration of looking for ready to wear (more than once a shopping trip turned into a crying fit in the dressing room), I think I came out ahead.

Finishing up my pants

 I decided since I was desperate for something to wear to go ahead and make a pair of pants even though I'm not quite done with the fitting process.  These are looking ok, but there's still room for improvement.  I figured the problem I was having with the inseam wasn't going to be that big of a deal if I made regular pants that I could roll up into capris.  There's a button tab on each side of the legs to hold the cuffs up once I get the buttons sewn on the outsides.  I also love cargo pockets so I put some on,  although they are a little low.  I could raise them up at least 2 inches, but for this pair I'll just leave them, and they're a little baggy, but I'd rather have them baggy than to tight.  I just need to sew the waistband on, hem them up and sew on the buttons.

So close, but so far

My pants fitting saga continues.  Just when I think I'm good to go, something's wrong with them.  I've worked on getting the crotch right, adding to the waist & hips, getting them balanced, adjusting the waistline, adjusting the darts.  The only thing I thought I had left to was to level out the hem.  So just as I was getting excited about making a pair to wear I'm told they're still wrong.  The back is to baggy and the front crotch is to long.

 I don't know what to do anymore, but I'm desperate.  I went looking for jeans the other day and the only ones I found that fit were out of my price range.  I had a favorite brand, but they've been discontinued and replaced with something I don't care for.  I guess I really only have one choice here, become a nudest.

Pants & Fauxhawks

Boy, it's been a long week, and I feel like I've accomplished nothing.  I had things to do this week that I couldn't ignore, so that left no time to knit or sew, not to mention the house is a disaster and laundry is piled up.  I guess now you know where my priorities are.

Yesterday I was able to sneak in a pants fitting and finally got the thumbs up to go ahead and attempt a wearable muslin.  I'm just a few tweaks from finally having my pants pattern perfected.  I was so excited I decided it was time to buy some new fabric to do them in.  Up until now I've been working with this polyester stuff I picked up on ebay for a bargain.  It looks nice but I wouldn't be caught dead wearing polyester pants.  I bought it specifically for pants muslins.  I picked up some navy twill, and I'm debating if I want to do them as capris or full length pants.

While I was at the fabric store, I picked up some fun fur to use in an upcoming baby shower gift.  I'm making matching father/son fauxhawk hats.  How cute is this?  I knitted the baby one up in just 2 hours.  It was a fun little project and a nice break from my hectic week and all the weeks I've spend on my pants.   

Making progress

From "fluffy pants" as my son calls them to better fitting pants.  The ones on the right still need some work but they look so much better than my original pair.  I need to straighten out the low hip a little to remove a little bit of a bubble there, fix the front and I'm still having issues with winkles in the back, but hopefully in the next week or so I'll finally be able to make a wearable pair.

Taking a mental health break

These pants make me want to cry.  It seems like nothing I do is making them any better.  I've been getting help from lovely lady at Pattern Review, who's been very patient, but I think if she could react though the computer she'd strangle me.  We both made the comment that it would be much easier if we were actually in the same room.  I know how difficult and frustrating it is to try and diagnose and solve issues from a distance.  My mom calls me all the time with her computer problems, and it's usually an easy fix, but I can't see that until I actually get my hands on it.  Until then it drives me nuts trying to explain what I want her to do, when she doesn't understand what I'm telling her.  Which is kind of where we are with this pants pattern.

So I spend the morning playing on facebook, doing laundry, straighing up the kitchen...anything to avoid the sewing machine.  Then I thought maybe there was somebody at the local sewing machine dealer who could help me.  Turns out they couldn't, but while I was there I got to test drive a expensive Janome.  I'll never be able to afford it but it was fun trying it out.

" I don't know why you don't just go buy new pants"

My husband said after the the um-teenth time I asked him to look at my butt.  I know how weird that sounds, but I was working on my pants pattern; trying to fix the back crotch to remove the "smiles" from under my butt.  Oh if only it was that easy, Dear Husband.

I got into this project because I was upset with a certain plus size store constantly discontinuing the line of jeans I wear and having to launch a new jeans search every couple years.  That and the closure of another plus size store that I frequented, I felt this was the only option left.

I think I was able to take care of those "smiles", and now I'm working on narrowing the leg, but as you can see I now have other wrinkle lines to deal with.  Glenda is out of the office next week, so I can't seek her advice.  So until then I guess it's up to me to experiment and see what happens.

Fixing the front crotch

Yesterday I spend the afternoon drawing up another pattern to work with, but this time I got smart.  The first two patterns I drew, if for some reason I needed to compare it to the master pattern I couldn't do it very easily because I didn't remember what measurements I used from the master, or they wouldn't line up like they should have or I had made so many changes that it wasn't the same pattern.  While I was drawing up the new one I decided to write the measurements next to each dot so if I needed to match it up with the master again everything would be where it was suppose to be.  Using a grain board, I also marked the high hip, low hip and crotch line in case I needed to make adjustments in those areas.  It's a good thing I did too, because after making my muslin, I had to use the low hip line to adjust the center front.  I had to take out about 1 1/2 inches.  It pulled the front crotch up slightly and just looks better.

Front view after shorting center front

Front view before shorting center front.  See the fabric pooling at the bottom of the zipper

I also used the grain board to draw the hem line, since I was having issues with the inseam hem pulling up and I wasn't sure it was straight in the first place.   Just looking at these photos I do think the inseam is hanging straighter but I won't know for sure until I finish the rest of my adjustments.

Next I'll be working on the back and tapering the legs.  Glenda suggests I add 5/8 of an inch to the back crotch point.  She's mentioned it before but I was being a bonehead and didn't want to.  I think it's time I do what I'm told.  She also mentioned needing more room in the high hip.  Another something I didn't want to do because I'm worried about getting the elephant ear effect that I had in the first pair, but my husband told me just to try it and see.  Glenda's out of the office next week, so I'll have time to do a pair my way and another pair her way and see which one looks better.  I have a feeling I'm going to loose.

No wonder it doesn't fit

I've been fighting with this pattern for at least 2 weeks and have come to the conclusion that I just need to start over.  I've measured, remeasured and remeasured again, and decided I made the crotch curve to short and no amount of adding to the crotch points is ever going to make a difference.  Last night I added 2 inches to the back, which brought it back up to my waistline, but it threw off the rest of the waist edge, because I had such a sharp angle from the center back to the side seams.  I know I should have added 2 inches to the front too, but I don't need more room in the front.  I'm going back to my original crotch curve measurements from the first pair of pants.  I need to get the crotch curve figured out before I can even think of making other adjustments.  I found a crotch curve tutorial, and guess that will be my next step if I can't get it to fit right.  So as much as I hate to say it, it's back to the drawing board.

Learning curve

Using what I learned from my first pair of pants, I decided to try another pair with some modification.  My first pair, although wearable, needed some work.  The waist was to big, the hips were to full, the legs to wide, ect.  The second pair I wanted to fix all of that.  So I pulled out my tracing paper and using the correct measurements, drew up another pattern.  I wasn't sure how to go about narrowing the leg, so following the Sure Fit master pattern, I drew seam lines for 13 sizes and sewed the tracing paper together until I got to my desired width.  I'm thinking I could probably go down another inch or so and I found this video to be helpful for future reference, but I have other issues to take care of first. 

I realized from these pics that I have a tilted waist and need to make the front quite a bit shorter than the back.  Which also affects my crotch curve, giving me a very short front curve and a long back curve.  I measured using a crotch-o-meter and found my front is 13" and my back is 22".  Looking at these pants that means I need to raise the center back about an inch, and add a 1/2" to 5/8" to the back crotch point.  Hopefully that will take care of the little wedgie and bring my waistband up over the top of my underwear.  The other issue I'm having and I didn't notice it on the first pair until they were done, is the inseam pulls up.  You can really see it in the back view.  I tried to correct it by putting a wedge in the inseam to lengthen it, but that just made it worse because I had all this extra fabric in the inner thigh.  Turns out I did the opposite of what I should of done.  I need to take a wedge out at the side seam.  Here Glenda shows how to fix this.

This pair fits pretty well in the waist and hips, if I can take care of the back crotch issues I think I getting close to where I want to be.

The Absent Minded Seamstress

So my pants are done, and I'm cleaning up before starting something else, since it looks like a sewing store blew up in my basement.  My sewing area is so small it's sometimes difficult to keep all my work in that one spot, and my supplies gets spread all over the house.  This could be the reason why  I have 3 seam rippers, several marking pencils, two scissors, 3-4 things of unopened elastic strips, I just found the pressing ham I bought a few years ago, ect.   Yesterday I was looking for the open roll of tracing paper because I needed to draft a new pattern peice.  When I couldn't find it I had to open another roll, and then found the missing one today in the dinning room.

I really try to stay organized, but sometimes creativity strikes and I can't be bothered to put things back where they belong.  Before I start another project I'm going to try really hard to get everything put away, so maybe I'll have more room to work and spend less time looking for my supplies.

Lessons learned the hard way

It's a good thing we can learn from our mistakes, because I've learned quite a few things in the last week.

Lesson 1  Photos can be/are deceiving
I had been seeking advice from Glenda by posting my work in progress photos and waiting for her feedback.  A lot of her feedback was helpful, but there were just some things she was seeing in the photos that I wasn't seeing in mirror.  The major one was, she said I had a flat derriere and need to make the adjustment for that. If you see me in real life you'd know I do not have a flat derriere, it protrudes out from my low back quite noticeably.  I'm not saying I have a Kim Kardashian backside, but there's more there than I would like and you don't really see it in the photos.

Lesson 2 Check the width of the fabric before you buy
Because I drafted my own pattern, I wasn't exactly sure how much fabric to buy.  I guesstimated based on how much muslin I used, but didn't take into account the pocket pieces or waistband and was able to get by with 3 1/2 yards.  So to be one the safe side I bought 4 yards of twill thinking I'd have enough, but it wasn't until I started laying the pieces out that I realized I bought 44" wide fabric instead of 58", which meant I had to cut each piece individually and when I got to the last piece I was short on fabric.  So back to the store, where I bought more than I needed in case I made anymore stupid mistakes.  I have enough left over to make myself a pair of shorts.  If only I wore shorts.


Lesson 3 Measure twice, cut once
This lesson doesn't just apply to carpentry.  Even though I thought I took meticulous measurements, I ended up cutting the front pieces about an inch longer than the back pieces.  Wasn't a huge deal, since they were going to be carpris, so I just cut the extra inch off to even them up. '

Lesson 4 Don't wait until end to try it on
I was so excited to finish as I was getting closer to end that I skipped trying them on; figureing I had made all the nessicary adjustments on the muslin.  I had put a dart in the center back seam like Glenda suggested, but once I got the waistband on and then tried them on, that dart pulled the waistband down to far and a good deal of my underwear showed.  If I had put a waistband on the muslin or at least tried them on before sewing the waistband in, I might have caught this problem that before I finished sewing and saved myself the time to rip the waistband out and re-cut another one because I put in on wrong in the first place.

Lesson 5 Double check your measurements
This one is very similar to lesson 3 and as I found out today, after doing the waistband the second time, my husband measured me wrong.  He measured my waist to be 3-4 inches bigger than it really is, so not only is the waist band to big that pants are to big.

Although I had my issues sewing these pants, overall I'd say it was mostly successfull.  I think I can fix the waistband issue with a drawstring on the inside to make them wearable and they are a better fit than anything in my closet and much better than the last pair I tried to sew from a real pattern.  I'm working on a new design and will be sure to make the measurement changes on the new pattern.

Doing some fine tuning

Front view after shorting the crotch

Back view after shorting the crotch and adding a dart at the center back

 I was pretty happy with my pants before, but I has some questions so I contacted Glenda and she offered some advice to help them fit a little better.  First off I was having issues with the crotch.  As I mentioned before something was off and I couldn't figure out what.  After lots of staring in the mirror, and driving my daughter up the wall because I was in her room and wouldn't leave, I realized the crotch was to low.  So back to the drafting table I went and spend most of the afternoon trying to figure out how to fix it with out having to draft a new pattern and cut more fabric.

Contemplating the complexities of crotch seams

In the end I think I did figure it out and changed the pattern.  The tough part was figuring out how to change the muslin without cutting anything, in case it didn't work.

Another change Glenda suggested was to add a dart at the center back seam, because the waistband was gaping.  So I did that and it brought the back waistband in to fit better.  I'm happy, but then again I don't really know what a good fit is, so I'm waiting for Glenda's feedback.  The only other thing I can see that I need to change is tapering the leg a little.  They're a little to wide for my liking.

Update:  Got an email from Glenda.  She said these were fitting much better.  There's some pulling in the high hip area, so I might need to take the seam out just a little.  She agreed about tapering the legs, but said they might hang totally smooth if I don't correct the pulling, but over all I have a fairly good fit.

It worked

My first muslin using Sure Fit Designs

Last week I sat down and worked on extending my Sure Fit master pants pattern by a few sizes, and drew up my very first personal pattern.  Then I got busy toward the end of the week and didn't have time sew anything until this week.  I sewed these together on Tue and then realized I had cut the back pieces 2 inches to short so they didn't match up.  I got some more fabric today and fixed it.  Consider these a rough draft, there's no waistband and they're way to thin to actually wear, unless I used them for a lining, but I'm very happy.  I have a little tweaking to do.  I can't quite figure it out, but there's some funny shaping going on in the crotch (which you can't see, but I still want to fix it) and the legs feel a little wide, but other than that I think they fit great.  I can't wait to get started on a pair of capri pants for this summer.  I'm already bouncing around design ideas for future pairs of pants.

Duct Tape Dress Form

I finally got Hubby to stick around home long enough to tape me up.  It's not pretty, and not really the shape thought it would be.  I was a little surprised to see my belly sticks out farther than I thought it did, but I also was surprised to see that my chest isn't as big as I thought it was.

Before we started this, I read countless websites and watched a lot of  YouTube videos on how to make a duct tape dummy.  I even consulted a few people who had made one before, looking for tips.  And one of the things that kept coming back to me was how hot it was going to be under all the tape.  And that made me a little nervous; but really it wasn't that bad.  We did this in the middle of January and usually keep the house fairly cool during the day.  We did 3 layers of tape and Hubby was sweating more from doing the taping.  I was comfortable.  In fact, and I know might sound weird, being taped up like that was actually kind of comforting, like a full body hug, although I wouldn't want to wear it all day.

Really the only uncomfortable part was having my arms taped.  I think he got a little to tight around my left arm because I could feel it starting to tingle towards the end.  Cutting it off was a little harry too because I was worried he'd snip me with the razor-sharp scissors, so I sucked in everything I could to give him room to maneuver the scissors.

Dress form before stuffing

Now I just need to stuff it.  Which is another thing I did a lot of research on.  Some fill theirs with polyfil, some with newspaper, some with fabric scraps.  These are fine if you're a tiny person.  It would take maybe 3 bags of polyfil for a tiny person; but tiny is something I'm not, and I figured it would take a lot of poyfil to fill to stuff mine.  Not to mention the shifting and settling after awhile.  I  even thought about expanding foam, but I wasn't sure how well that would work or where to get it.  I did find a few websites that sold the stuff, but couldn't afford to have it fail.

Then on one of my knitting boards somebody suggested using something for a solid core and then add stuffing around that to fill in the gaps.  That sounded like a great idea, but what to use?  It hit me, Styrofoam.  It's lightweight, easy to shape, and fairly cheap.  I picked up a sheet at the home improvement store for $6.  My original thought was to cut it into  4 strips and stack them on top of each other giving me a 6" block for the core.  Turns out I didn't need the whole thing.  I started by cutting the Styrofoam the width of my hips since they are the widest part of my body and rounded the tops to fit my shoulders.  I shoved 2 pieces in as far as I could and then broke up a few other pieces to fit where needed and stuffed newspaper fill in the rest and taped up bottom.  Now that it's all stuffed and closed up, I see a few spots where it could use a little more stuffing.  I'll fix that with expanding spray foam (the kind used for insulation).  I'll cut a small hole, spray the foam in and tape it over when it drys.  Walla, my very own dress form.

Stuffing the dress form with styrofoam and newspaper

Finding the perfect fit: The next chapter

So my Sure Fit kit came yesterday and I'm very excited to try it out.  But first I need to extend the measurements a little, because I'm slightly larger than the master pattern.  This shouldn't be a problem because Glenda has some videos on how to extend the master, and it looks fairly easy just a little time consuming.

I live in capri pants during the summer and with Fashion Bug closing, it's getting harder to find ones I like.  A few years ago I found the perfect pair of capris, and I should have bought all of them in my size, because I wore those pants just about everyday, until they finally wore out.  I'm hoping with this Sure Fit kit I can make my own perfect capris in a multitude of  colors.

Another thing I'm doing to find the perfect fit; and you can call me crazy, but I've decided to make myself a duct tape dress form.  I'm hoping to be able to use it to help me with fitting the sweaters I knit and  once I master pants maybe I'll venture into sewing tops for myself.