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.

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.

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!

Back to McCall's

I appreciate the feedback from everyone, comments were helpful. I  made some tweaks to the Lander Shorts, which improved some of the fit issues and then created additional fit issues.

This is a nice pattern, yet I don't think my body shape really works well with this pattern. The pattern is high-waisted and that is not going to work for me.  The more fit adjustments I made the bigger the waistband seem to be. It is not a contour waistband.

I was getting more and more frustrated with the project.  I was not going to give up on my quest to make a well-fitting pant/shorts and decided to give McCall's Palmer/Pletsch pant pattern (6440) a try. I decided to go back and view the Palmer/Pletsch video on pants fitting on Craftsy and found my Fit For Real People Pant Fitting book. I have had this pattern for some time and had listed it for sale on eBay, so I pulled that listing and decided to use it myself.  I have already cut around the pattern pieces and used my hip measurement as recommended for the size to cut.  The fabric suggested for this pant is a stretch woven which I had planned to use for the shorts.

This pant has a center back or a side seam invisible zipper.  My best RTW fitting pants are Talbot and have a side seam zipper, this keeps the focus from the tummy as compared to using a fly front closure.

I will continue to share my pant fitting progress.

No you didn't, Yes I did!

Many of you know that my favorite process for fitting is the Palmer Pletsch Fit for Real People pin fitting method.  I have only made a few muslins in all the years (a lot) of sewing.  Many of you know that I recently posted that I have a real block when it comes to making pants or shorts.

I took the RTW Fasters 2018 Pledge which was I will not buy any RTW garments for 2018.  I have stuck to that commitment, though have been tempted several times to buy some shorts.  Soooooo- I purchased the Landers Pants and Shorts pattern from True Bias.  After printing, taping and tracing I tried pin fitting as usual and just couldn't get that to work for me.  So I decided to make a muslin, oh yes I did!

I can better see my issues by doing this but I am still having concerns about what I think I am seeing.  So dear readers, I am bravely posting some photos that DH took so I could better see what may be the issues.  I truly appreciate your feedback.  I will comment about what I see both in my bathroom mirror (the one photo I took) and what I see from the photos.

Hopefully, if you click the photo you can see the comments.  The front overlaps do not meet at the front so I know I need more room there.  There is pulling on the left side and puffy on right.  My right hip issue is more pronounced in this shot.

I know I want to taper in the side seams below the hip to take out some fullness.  This pattern has one-inch side seams to allow for fitting-yeah! This is the left side.

This is the right side seam. I do have gaping in the center back at the waistband and the waistband stands out from my back.  I think that I need to take a deeper back seam or take in darts at waist?

I have real issues with my right hip. Osteo issues as well as bursitis; I see more differences between left and right in this photo.

I truly appreciate feedback about whether I am on the right track or could there be other fitting concerns.  I will conquer the short/pant fitting. If you want to send me an email with more details please send to lwl1951 at gmail dot com.  Thank you for your responses!

Back to normalcy!

Hurricane Florence has moved on, leaving more damage and destruction elsewhere.  I consider myself very lucky as we lost some roof shingles and had two small ceiling leaks.  My neighbors on both sides had portions of their fences knocked down.

Power was restored about 4:30 PM yesterday. We had a small blackout later in the evening and power came back quickly.  Still lots of damage in other areas of our county as well as in other counties close by.

I am ready to get back to sewing.  I have measured a pair of my favorite shorts and made note of those measurements and have determined the size I should consider using for the Lander Shorts.

This AM waking up to sunshine and A/C was a blessing.  Back to my normal routine of coffee and reading pattern reviews on Pattern Review. I have several days worth to catch up on and many sewists have been busy sewing. 

Catch up with everyone later.

What to do while waiting for Florence

We made the decision to stay along with several neighbors in our area.  Cloudy this AM, but now we have wind gusts and off and on rain.  From what we are hearing, Florence has reduced from Cat 5 to Cat 2 and when hits landfall should be Cat 1.  The rains will still be intense.

To keep busy, I taped the True Bias Landers Short pattern together and began working on what size will be right for me.  I am using a pair of shorts that fit me very well, though they are not high waisted, to determine what would be the best size to try and what other crotch or back adjustments I may need.

No photos for now as all you can see is a taped pattern. Once I complete the task above then I will trace around the pattern for my correct size.  I always trace using Swedish Tracing paper and then pin fit.

Later.

Do I Stay or Do I Go

I had some great sewing plans for this week using two indie patterns for shorts and a top.  They are printed and ready for cutting and taping.  Then Florence has happened and it is anticipated that she is going to pack a wallop. So for two days DH and I have go back and forth with staying or going.  I have heard from several people that they are staying and others not.  Fortunately we made the decision to live close to the coastline, not on it. However, we keep hearing about sea surges.  We know about flooding, the month of July we had only 5 days WITHOUT rain. Still this is huge hurricane.

We have decided twice to stay and twice to go.  What we are hearing and through website views, the highways are jammed pack mostly from people coming through from South Carolina going wherever.  Hotels are booked, roads are jammed and dealing with hysterical drivers are as much of a concern as dealing with the storm itself.

I lived through one hurricane while living in Corpus Christi, TX and it was not a Cat 4 or 5.  We moved to Santa Rosa, CA and two weeks after arriving there was the huge earthquake in San Fran and Oakland.  We were impacted also.

So I guess it is only fitting that we have another adventure with Mother Nature.  So we will hopefully decide one way or the other by tomorrow when a mandatory evacuation begins for our county.

Prayers are appreciated for the NC coastline!

Wearing My Kalle Shirt Dress

Today I decided to wear my new dress.  It is really hot out and having on a dress is cooler to me than shorts; especially because it is cotton.

I wore it to Walmart and grocery store.  As I was walking down an aisle, I heard a voice say-"Oh, lady I love your shirt." I turned around to see if they were talking to me and she was.  She kept saying how cute this was and where did I get it?  I told her I made it and her comment was you did good.  That made my day.  Even before leaving the house, my DH kept saying you need to make some more like this, it is perfect for where we are now.  Twice in one day😄 with the compliments

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DH took some pictures of me wearing before I left the house, were going to shoot a few outside, but way too hot for standing and posing.

Front view

Hand on hip view of front

I think with the cotton fabric that is does not drape as a rayon challi or silky fabric would.  I have to get use to the fullness.  I enjoyed that fullness when walking to and from my car to store.  The heat coming off the parking lot was stifling.

Here is the back view it looks pretty good in the photo; yet I think I could take out a little more fullness in the center back around waist area.  I have a narrow back and narrow waist in the back. I did shave off some width on the back piece after trying it on for fitting purposes.  I think I need to make a deeper swayback adjustment as the side seams swing toward the front when viewing the sides.

 I also have orange sandals that are about two years old and they have gotten a lot of mileage recently.  They go very well with this dress.

Some of the changes I made were :

• taking a deeper seam in back area to reduce some fullness in center back at the waistline.
• scooped out the neckline by 1/4 inch as collar would be too high on me.
• kept the length of the pattern as many reviewers said it was short; I am 5'2" and the above gives you an idea where the front was right at knee area.

Tweaks for the next dress and/or tunic-not many at all!

• forward shoulder adjustment.  When sitting the back pulls and the front neckband hits right under my chin
• make a deeper swayback adjustment.

Wearing this as I type,it feels comfortable and loose. I am glad I made this as I kept putting if off.  The instructions and tutorials on Closet Case website were very helpful with some steps that were different for me.  I like the neckband method used, it was an alternative to the norm and I think I would incorporate this with other patterns.  Burrito method for yoke is included and very familiar with this method so that was a nice instruction included in the pattern.

Here is one more pose-semi side view

Thanks for stopping by!

Finished Kalle and What's next

I completed the Kalle Shirt Dress!  This was a longer project than I thought it would be; I chose to use the directions in completing this and learned some alternative ways of sewing neckband and a placket.  I sewed the buttons on last night and while doing this in front of the TV, my DH said that is a pretty dress.  I thanked him and not sure he will have the same opinion when I wear it as it is very different style.  It works for my lifestyle now and perfect for the continued hot weather.

Here is a glimpse, hopefully will take full photos when I wear it in the near future.  I plan to do a full review at that time also.  I will make this in the tunic length as well trying the long sleeve extension pattern.

As I shared in an earlier post, my first buttonhole turned out wonky after completing three test buttonholes.  I will be sewing the button onto this through all thicknesses as I can easily pull this over my head with the last button closed.

I did not make bias tape from fabric for this dress, I had planned to do this. I was looking through a drawer with bias binding in it and saw this orange binding.  Not sure when or why I even bought that color, most bias binding I have has been around for a couple of years.  So got lucky that this matched perfectly.

I am continuing my sewing projects focusing on using Indie patterns.  I have decided on two with one being a shorts pattern as it is time to get past my sewing block on sewing shorts and pants.  I have read several reviews about several short patterns and have decided to try True Bias's Lander shorts.

The other project will be a Blank Pattern pattern-Austin Tee with tie at waist.

I actually purchased this one twice😜.

I washed and dried the fabric for the shorts.  Just need to cut and tape pattern pieces.  I then trace and try on using pin fitting technique.  I also have some muslin fabric as I may break down and do one of those!!!!!  The fabric is from Cali Fabrics and is a Ralph Lauren poly-twill woven with some stretch.

After washing it felt less thick and more to my liking.  More updates to follow.  Thank you for stopping by.

Touching base

First, I received a question from a reader about issues she was having on finding me on Ebay as I had provided information about my selling patterns there.  She could not find me when she did a search.  I found that you have to click on Advanced Search and scroll down close to the bottom and click on Seller, then click on specific seller and type in seller's Ebay name; mine is lamona7.  So if anyone else tried this and maybe did not know how to find seller (including me) that's it.

Second, I have just about finished the Kalle Shirt Dress and it has been a great sewing journey in that I learned how to do somethings different than I normally would.  I have okay with my dress but I think I would prefer to use a lighter cotton fabric than I did.  I know that I will make some additional tweaks with future makes from this pattern.  I have even purchased the long sleeve extension pattern for this fall.  Not sure how fall feels in our new location.

Third, I dread making buttonholes because no matter if you have a fancy buttonhole attachment and program with your sewing machine it never fails that one, sometimes two buttonholes get wonky.  I tested making three buttonholes for the Kalle dress on same weight and thickness of fabric and they turned out lovely.  I make my first one on the dress and it does not connect the top part of the buttonhole correctly.  The rest turned out okay. 

Fourth, I have not always liked my JoAnn's store where I used to live but I miss them now as all I have here is Hobby Lobby with a small section for sewing.  I was able to find buttons for this dress today, but pickings were slim.

Hope to show the finished project in the next day or two.