Saturday, October 27, 2018

Back on Track for sewing some indie patterns.

Prior to the pant journey, I was going to sew some indie patterns, particularly for the Sew a Garment a Month group.  The theme was to sew 3. Three of anything, blouses/tops/pants/etc.  My plan was to sew three indie patterns. 

Today I taped all the pieces together for the Blank Slate Pattern Austin T.  I have had this pattern since 2017 and there was an update in March that I added. I am sewing the front without the center front seam and adding the tie in the front.  I see many tops with a tie on various websites such as Nordstrom and Macy's and this pattern was perfect for this.

The fabric I am using is a recent purchase from Simply By Ti. (I am not an affiliate). 

This is a weighty rayon knit. It is a black background with peach and coral flowers.  It has a good recovery and a nice stretch for this pattern.

I will update you on the progress of this new to me pattern.

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

The Journey has Ended!

I am done with my pant project.  I mostly enjoyed the journey and decided this can end now.  The pants are not perfect and from the photos that follow I, as well as you, may also see where some more tweaks can/should/would be made.

I compared the final results to my side zipped Talbot's pants with some surprising similarities and some differences.  The back waistband matched the back waist of the Talbot pants. The front waistband on the sewn pants was about 3/4 inch longer. The crotch length was fairly spot on for both the front and back.  The major difference was the fullness of the legs, especially at the thigh area. The hip on sewn pants was still curvy compared to Talbot's and I trimmed that section down several times.

Here are the final results.  I have not hemmed the pants but did pin them to the length I would wear them. 

This is the front with side zipper. Still some excess fabric near crotch on the left when viewing the picture which is my right side.
This is the side view
This is the back view
I like the back style of these pants.  There is a side back and back piece that is sewn and mine lined up well running from waist to hem.  I took up this section at least three times. There is still some bagginess under the bum.  I am okay with this.  I have some of this with RTW also.

This is how the pants look with top out which is how I mainly wear pants and tops.

I still need to hem them and may wear them around the house.

Here are some of my takeaways from sewing these pants.

  • When you make one tweak, you may have to make two more tweaks somewhere else.
  • It would be nice to take a pant fitting class with other sewists who can help you see what works and what is not working well.
  • I took a lot of pictures to get a better idea of how the pants were fitting.
  • Using the Palmer/Pletsch Pants for Real People book as well as the Craftsy class by Melissa Watson helped. 
  • Watched other pant fitting videos and learned that how one sewist fixes an issue may not be how another would do it.
  • I should have gone a size smaller from the beginning.  Using the information provided about being between sizes and if you are more mature and/or have a flat bottom you may want to go up a size.  My bottom is lower and flatter than it was when younger, yet I had to take in up to almost two inches in some areas because I sized up instead of my normal size for my hips which is between 14-16.
  • I still am confused about crotch length and crotch depth and need to have more knowledge about which I should adjust. 
  • Just because I have sewn for many, many years does not mean that because of that I should want to sew pants.  Now that I have made the best fitting pants ever for me, I really still do not want to sew pants.  
  • I may still sew some shorts in the future when it is spring again.
  • I rather sew dresses, tops, jackets, and skirts.  I have sewn these for many years and know what tweaks, changes I need to make.  Results are normally good.

Time to move on and make some knit tops as the weather has gotten cooler; many of my tops have been in the wardrobe for a few years now. Some are wearing out or I am just tired of wearing them.

Thanks to all that commented on my pant sewing journey, it truly helped me to keep going with this project.

Saturday, October 13, 2018

Pants and Pattern Stash

I have tried on and taken off, made some adjustments, undone some adjustments, and tried some other adjustments with my pants fitting.  I have made my last adjustments and will attempt to actually sew with these final pant adjustments.  I have made so many adjustments and noted many and then lost track of some. 

This has been an amazing adventure. I think my final version will be the best I can do with this particular pattern.  Will I attempt to make another pair of pants? Perhaps but probably not this pattern.  Having said that, one real issue with this pant pattern is not choosing the right size and the need to better understand crotch depth and length.  I have more to learn.  I will take a break from pants and plan to sew some tops for the upcoming cooler weather.

DH and I have other plans for tomorrow and hopefully will be able to finish the pants, take pictures and write a final blog post about these pants by midweek.  I am soooooo ready to be done with this!!!!

P.S. I continue to reduce my pattern stash; I would have to be reincarnated to sew up all the patterns in the current stash.  I have given away a lot of patterns before and after moving.  I decided to sell some patterns on eBay and am selling cheap.  Below is a list of the few patterns I have posted on eBay.  Just click on the link if you are interested.

Simplicity 1017 Amazing Fit, Wide Leg Pants

Collette Parfait Dress

Butterick 5997 Loose-Fitting Tops

Butterick 6419 Semi-fitted Blouse

Monday, October 08, 2018

Pant Progress

This has been an interesting project for me.  I hardly give up on a sewing project; there has been a few though when I truly knew the outcome would not be wearable.  I have been close to giving up on this pant fitting journey I am on. I realized yesterday after putting on and taking off and repeating this action at least five times that I am actually learning more about fitting pants and decided to not talk myself out of continuing.

I am happy and actually amazed at the fit of the back of the pants with some tweaks for fullness in the back below my bottom/butt/bum.  This pattern has a side back and back pieces. This has allowed for a nicer fit in that area and without this, I would be folding out quite a bit of fullness. There is still fullness that I want to remove.

It was hard taking photos of the back as my DH was not readily available to help.  I lightened the photo so you could see what I am working with at this time.

The front is another fitting issue nightmare!  Actually, this is a fitting issue I have with some petite pants purchased from other sources than Talbots. I had a tailor I went to for them to fix the issue; I wish I had paid more attention to what they did.   I really am more of a box shape and I have way too much curve through the hip area. I basted a deeper side seam using a 1.5-inch side seam for the front piece and 1 inch for the back side seam.  That helped but still have more to remove. I also took in the inseam by an additional 1/2 inch.

I can see the fullness at the hip and I need to remove some curviness there.

There is a diagonal pull that I am pointing to on this side.

And too much fullness near center front.  It looks like a bubble and per Pants for Real People, taking deeper inseam should help. I had to raise the front waistline, or that is what I thought I should do because of how low the front crotch seemed to be.  This made the front look a little better but have the issues above still.

I won't have as much to time to work on this today and regret that.  I am wanting this project to be over and the next project will probably be a quick TNT project just for immediate gratification.

Thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.  Thanks for stopping by.


Saturday, October 06, 2018

M6440

I am finally sewing the pants. I pin fitted the pattern about 4 times and I think I will have a good fit when all is said and done. I love sewing the fabric, it was purchased earlier this year from Cali Fabrics and prior to our move to North Carolina.

The fabric is similar to Talbot's pants that fit me very well and the pants last forever.  I hope this fabric and the fit will be the same.

Here is a quick photo of pants in progress on the cutting table. The center front has been sewn and the back/side back and center back seams have been sewn.  Next step is to baste the one-inch seams and try them on for fitting adjustments.


More later.

Tuesday, October 02, 2018

Quick Update

I am making progress.  Between Pants for Real People book and Melissa Watson on Craftsy for pant fitting, I have made a lot of progress with my pant pattern.

I plan to actually cut out the fabric later this evening. Will provide more progress reports later.

At least I now know steps to take if you have smile lines in the front and back crotch.  I had to take a deeper crotch seam for the back and I reduced the pant length.  I also had to add to the center front for a fuller tummy!

More updates later!

August Sewing Simplicity 7295

 I am not doing well as a blogger. I have been working on this project since July 30. Today, I finally finished it. It has been a stop-and-g...