Posts
Obviously I am losing my mind. Look at the crazy and very unflattering pictures I am putting up. But I am trusting other sewers to know that decades, yes decades, of trying to find a reliable pants pattern will drive anyone over the edge.I am about to start my duct tape RTW copy. This is the pair I am going to be working from. It would have been appropriate for me to have ironed the back of them more thoroughly before these photos, will do before I start with the tape, but I am on roll here and no time for more pictures.
Why are these my best RTW pants? For a start they are comfortable, you can see that. And they have a flat front which is good when your own isn't. And the legs are full (see what a difference that makes for smoothing out thighs and a large rear end) but not too baggy. These are good, save for the somewhat wedgy back that I will have to amend, but more or less OK. They also have a feature that most patterns I have tried lack - no baggy extra fabric in the front crotch. And easy to sew. This pair has inseam pockets but I will eliminate those when I make my own pair assuming the tape/pattern thing works. Which I hope it does.
BTW if any honest person thinks these look so terrible on me that this is not worth the effort, please tell me now.
4 comments:
I question the wisdom of starting with an elastic waist for the pattern. You won't have a real starting point for the fit because you don't really know what "size" they are. I do like the way ther front fits, though it appears the elastic back pulls the waistband past center toward the back - look at your side view above the pocket.
My unprofessional 2 cents. And good luck on your project. You get extra points for posting yourself on internet in tights.
Thanks for the comment Beebee, really useful. I think that you are right about an elastic pair not being the best starting point, but the truth is that I wanted to try the duct tape copy method and this is as close to a good pair of ready-to-wear pants as I own, all my more tailored pants have some feature that just disqualifies them from worth copying. And I did want to end up with one elastic pant pattern anyway. I am hoping the other methods I am going to try will generate a more tailored traditional fitted pattern.
That said I found your observation about the elastic at the back really helpful. I hadn't noticed that myself. I have been thinking as I worked on this pattern in tape that the front was good and that it might be worth working on a waistline variation for the back, maybe even darts and a more shaped centre back seam (you can see my body could use it as I slope in quite definitely at the back. Or another thought is to develop something less bunchy like Loes Hinse's Euro pants waistline. Your comments have really got me thinking. Thanks again.
I've done a pant duck tape copy in one of Jean Haas' classes. Perhaps when you get the duck tape copy pattern of the back, take darts to pull in the waist. That might help to determine the fitting issues better. Then when you have perfected the fit, turn the darts back into the elastic waist by not sewing them. Just a thought.
Linda that is a brilliant idea. The front and legs of these pants are great and really if I just work out fitting the waist at the back I might get pretty close to a great pattern, and of course this can just be freed up back to an elastic waist. It seemed like a crazy thing to post these funny pictures but the practicality of the comments and help like this makes it worth it. Will be posting pictures of the duct tape pattern later today.
Post a Comment