UPDATE: Style Arc Sandra Muslin

WAIT!!!! I got PR's member of the year for 2014!!!! YAY!!!!

Anyway... :)

I realized I was talking myself out of making these jeans and decided there was absolutely NO reason to be scared of jeans! So I decided that today was the day, and I went for it!

I decided on a size 16 based on the size chart and finished measurements. I hemmed and hawed over whether or not I should try to make adjustments to start but decided I should just muslin the pattern as-is since I've never sewn jeans.

Well, I made ONE adjustment; I knew not to trust those back pocket placement marks! However, after making them up, they need to be brought in closer to the center.

pretty perfect pockets! I have to find the link I use for making perfect pointed pockets...

I used the vertical placement of these jeans as a guide but didn't pay attention to the horizontal placement

Excuse my ragged self! LOL! 

Need to remove a small wedge from CF

The thighs were tight. I need to give myself more thigh room which I assume will eliminate some of those lines (right? RIGHT?!?!)

Did you see the wavy yoke in the above photo? yeah, I need to take a couple tucks out of the yoke.

RTW jeans which are admittedly a little too snug, but the wrinkles from butt to knee are almost non-existent while the back knee wrinkles are present. I've seen these on a lot of RTW and handmade jeans and wonder if it's just a need for extra fabric to sit down.

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Following the advice I've received so far (here and on IG!), I did a couple things...

L is completely right that you can't judge the fit completely without a waistband!! So I attached it and still had gaping. I took two 1/2" darts from the waistband and yoke and MUCH better.

Then I played around with the seam allowances.

I let the thighs out a little (this pattern has 1 cm seam allowance so about .39" so there wasn't much extra room). Well they looked even baggier. So then I went and took the sa to 1/2" from crotch to knee and pinned out a fish-eye dart (all changes to left leg only)

So then I let the SA back out to the smaller seam allowance. I kept taking larger fish-eye darts until I realized those remaining under-butt wrinkles  may be due to needing a bit of an extension of the crotch point in back.

So now I'm thinking smaller fish-eye dart (like pic #1) but slightly larger seam allowance for a closer fit on the leg.

What say you?!? :)

Finished: S2061

***Edited to add the blogger from which I got the inspiration to use this pattern. Even though I'd made view B before, I hadn't looked at view A. But hers were cute so :) Blog Post


I'm not supposed to be sewing yet.

Shhhhhhh.

But you know...I just had to. I had to!!!!!!!!

I needed an outlet and what's better than sewing? Trust me...I tried other things. I cleaned up the sewing room. I washed some fabrics. I looked through my BurdaStyle magazines. I pet my fabric a little. Sometimes these things cure the itch. This time? Nope. Not at all.

Okay...Something I want that's easy. Quick. Not going to be too much work...

Obviously a knit won. The serger had black thread in it.

The ponte spoke to me. It said, "Pssst. PSST!!!!! I want to become pants!". So who am I to deny?

I was going to go with a leggings-type pattern but I didn't want "tight". I wanted to be able to wear these as "regular" pants not with a tunic.

Then I decided against a more traditional pants pattern (waistband, fly, pockets) because...hello? Wrist. Enter S2061

I made view B last year, here:

I'd only been sewing for like 6 weeks!

I decided this was an extra bonus. The pattern was already cut and I knew they would fit. There were only 3 pattern pieces for view A and I cut them out without incident :)

My only adjustments were to remove 3/4" from CF, lengthen 1.5" and stitch the pleats down a little further. I didn't have 1.5" elastic so I used 1".

Pattern matching? Pfft. For suckas. I had no time for that.

A little tighter in the butt than I originally planned.

Look at my cute pleats!!!!!!

It's LOVE! 

I spent all fall hemming and hawing over printed pants. I thought only "skinny" girls could wear print pants. I am so happy with these. They have the comfy feel of lounge pants but look much nicer. Score!

(they weren't yet hemmed as I was thinking about elasticizing the hem. I'll just do a normal hem)

Shirt is RTW from Target a couple years ago.

This ponte is different from any other I've sewn. It's really fluid. Maybe it has a higher rayon content?? I don't know but I'm a happy camper!

***I was nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award; gotta gather my 10 "interesting" facts!

More Pants Fitting - Butterick 5908

Pants are crazy!!!

I guess when you consider taking flat, two-dimensional fabric pieces and getting them to shape and contour to a very three-dimensional body, things are bound to go awry.

I don't necessarily have a hard time buying RTW pants, but the pants that look half decent on me are expensive, e.g. Ann Taylor, Banana Republic. When I was slimmer I lived in Gap pants. Now? They aren't meant for me. I do still love Old Navy jeans. I have to buy a size larger and get the waist taken in, but for the money, it's so worth it.

When I made my Simplicity 2700 pants, they came out okay, after lots of work. I wore the finished pants to work and realized:

1. The pants were slightly too big
2. The flared leg was NOT for me
3. They need to be shortened

I love (LOVE!) the wide waistband on those. They remind me of a decent fitting pair of slacks that I own already. But, I wanted a style that was slightly more sleek and fit like my absolute favorite pair of RTW pants (black Worthington slacks from JC Penney in a 10 Curvy). I tried to buy more of these but none of the other pants fit quite like these...even other "10 curvy" pants. But now, I can sew! Yay me!

I fell for the RTW styling in Butterick 5908 - kinda because they're red (EVERYONE should have red pants) but I really liked the clean line.

My observations:

1. she has excess width through the leg
2. the leg opening is slightly narrower than I'd like (slightly)
3. the pants are not contoured through the thigh/knee/calf. They're straight
4. she has a little front crotch bagginess

Because these are similar in styling to my RTW pants, I took all the crotch/waist/thigh measurements from my black pants and automatically transferred them to the pattern. I am also sold on picking up old sheets (queen or king are best!) to use as muslin!!!

I initially thought I needed a larger size after making this muslin:

So I made some changes based on suggestions from PR and got this:

Well THAT isn't attractive!!

Then I made a tuck to get rid of the back wrinkles:

Ok, 'now we're cooking with fire' as Papa would say! It's a little tight (diagonal wrinkles radiating from the butt) but it's getting there. Then I transferred the tuck (and added an inch to the waist)

Ut-oh. That's not good. After reading a TON of blogs, posts, etc, I realized that I took too much out of the tuck. It made the problem WORSE. So I slept on it and read more and researched more and decided on these changes to the original pattern:

1. add 1/2" to the back crotch point
2. add 1/2" to back by slashing and adding 1/4"
3. added back 1/2" (originally took 1/2") of tuck from CF seam
4. took a 3/4" tuck under the butt, steam pressing this length back into the inseam
5. tapered from thigh to knee and knee back out (to calf??) to shape the leg

That sounds like a lot but it really isn't. I'm done. There are a few wrinkles but the pants look pretty dang good. I could use a tad more back length - like seriously 3/8" - to get rid of the wrinkles at high hip. And I took back that 1/2" from CF, it's a little baggy.

I'm happy. I'm going to sew the pants up tonight in my fashion fabric!!!

PANTS! Simplicity 2700 Wearable Muslin

*Yes, I changed the title. I'm on my way to very wearable pants! :)
I don't like to make muslins. It isn't fun. I mean, neither is finishing a garment and finding it doesn't fit (or fit well) but still. I read posts from sewists who make 3, 4, 5(!!!) muslins for a garment and I think, "no way man. I'd have to be making something really, really, SUPER important like a wedding gown to worry THAT much about fit". I know myself and doing the same thing over and over again will quickly wear me out.

So, I choose not to muslin most projects. Win some. Lose some. I've been relatively lucky...But wouldn't get too ahead of myself thinking I'm untouchable when it comes to pants. I have never, ever had pants off the rack fit correctly. It's always one sacrifice over the other and normally, I'd go up a size to give my (super muscular) thighs the room they need, and take them to the tailor to get the hips/waist taken in. Or they fit fine through the hips and thigh but I know they're too tight at the waist. Or the rise is way too high but I hardly ever tuck my shirts so I wouldn't care.

I made a muslin of S2700 awhile back (about 3 months ago) and they looked like this:

 

Huh? This is nothing like my muslin. What do you say? The A.F. patterns have a 1" SA? oops! LOL! So then I went whole hog and got this:

 

 

Me thinks I took TOO much in. I rather like the idea of using a striped fabric to muslin (or perhaps any repetitive pattern), it's easy to see that the lines are bowing in like crazy over my thighs. You can also see where the darts come down way too far and I pulled too much in on the inseam giving me under butt lines. So then I put this pattern in the bin (not trash...storage!). But alas, I'm tired of having 2 1/2 pair of pants so I got started again.

What didn't I do? Any remeasuring. Oops. I should have. I understand the construction process a lot better now and measuring would have allowed me to see that the front crotch would be far too long/high. And now I have this:

 

Too much extra room in front. I think the wrinkles are connected to my solo shoe.

 

I am quite pleased with the rear view. Quite pleased. On subsequent pairs, I probably will shorten the dart just a smidge...

 

I think they're nicely balanced. The front is sitting a little lower than the back, but this might also be because I can literally grab 2+" of extra fabric in front. It doesn't look like my thighs are pulling at the seams at all...and I think the puddling fabric (I'm not that tall) makes it appear as if the seam is forward - it isn't.

 

 

So while I am sure I'm well on my way to decent fitting pants, I have to figure out how to rid myself of the 2" of extra fabric in front, without ruining these. I like this grey fabric. And I was smart this time and basted the seams - inseam, outer leg seams, crotch seams, and the waistband. Only the pockets and zipper are "permanent".

Today on lunch I took another half inch (1" total) off the front via the crotch seam. I'm sure I could try altering the inseam some. But I don't want to go too crazy. I'm going to take them apart and see if I can trim some of the excess length off the crotch point (oh boy I'm setting myself up for the spam bots with the overuse of the c-word!).

 

I'm sure I'll say it again after the pants are done and a review is posted -- IGNORE simplicity's little fitting chart!!!! Compare the pattern pieces to your best fitting RTW trousers...to your sloper...hell even just basic flat measurements have got to beat their system. The chart had me sewing something between a 20 and 22 (average). I probably could have cut an 18  with some tweaks...

 

UPDATE:

I made some tweaks. My pants now have

1" seams at: front crotch, inseam, side seams

7/8" seam through center back (including crotch)

 

The slight wrinkling is due to just too much length in the front. I can take a little bit at the waistband but otherwise, I like how the front looks. Forgive my crazy face! :)

 

Back looks good! I have a little pulling but oddly enough I have that on my RTW pants too. I think I need to "give back" that 1/4". The back in the previous rendition looked a bit cleaner.

 

 

In the next pic, I decided I could take in the side seams to reduce some of the excess in front...but it made the back way too tight. This helps to drill in that a little goes a long way when making alterations. I took in the side seams an extra 1/4" from waist to upper thigh (just below the pocket bags) but this is 1" total out of the circumference of the pants! Too much.

 

 

The next pair will be great however, I'm still going to rock these babies! Hopefully I'll get them completely finished and posted by the weekend!

 

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Feel free to read, but this list is moreso for me! :)

 

Immediate sewing plans:

*Finish S2700

*Hem 3 completed tops (Finishing is my undoing)

*Cut and sew black sleeveless knit top

*Muslin S1696

 

Mid term plans:

*Vest using grey windowpane fabric M6149 view B

*Black cotton lawn version of NL 6104 view C (love that pattern)

*White cotton version of B5526 view A or D

*Black pants, Camel pants (once pattern is done...sewing them will be a breeze!)

Other plans:

*Muslin a basic, unlined blazer (NL6035?)

*Sew S1696 in Kelly green gabardine

*Sew M6744, length of A with back of B in chambray cotton gauze