Thursday, July 24, 2008

Vogue 1035 - a Muslin Story

I'm working on a muslin for my mini-wardrobe pants. First thing I noticed when stitching them up: The waistband for size 14-22 is WAY off. As in, several inches too small. I think it's probably the 6-12 pattern piece. Beware if you own this pattern! I had to draft my own waistband (after 3 tries with the pattern piece, thinking it was just me!)

Part I:
I made up the pants with no alterations in muslin fabric so I could assess fit (and ask for help!) from scratch. I have these same issues in ALL fitted pants/trouser/jean style patterns.

The front of the pant is really baggy, which seems odd to me because my tummy sticks out more than my bum these days. This picture isn't as bad as it is after wearing for a few minutes/moving around. The front sort of slips down until I have folds of fabric.

Then we have the side view, where the seams are at relatively perpendicular. I have high hip fluff, so that's one area I probably need to add a bit. You can see wrinkles at the seam here and in the back that all point at my high hips (one of my hips also sits higher than the other, which I should probably also address.)


And the holy grail of fit...the backside. Same wrinkles that we saw in my Ottobre Woman capri's although these are worse. Someone then mentioned dropping the back curve a bit to allow for a flat seat, but I'm not sure my seat is all that flat. It doesn't seem particularly flat in the side view. I think the diagonal wrinkles under the waistband are because I need additional room at the high hip.


So... any fit experts out there? What's the next step? I've put out the call for help at PR. I'm wondering if it's a full thigh issue and the crotch seam is suffering because of that?

And isn't it funny how when YOU have a fit issue it's never one that's covered adequately in any of your books?

2 comments:

  1. I wish I was a fit expert (wouldn't that be great) but alas I am not. However, looking at the pants, it looks like they are too small. Because they are pulling too tight across your tummy and high hip you are getting all sorts of pulls. Once you give yourself more room in the sides the front and back wrinkles may disappear. You will (I think) have the extra fabric in the front under the tummy but hopefully it will hang more gracefully. Good luck!

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  2. I get back wrinkles like that All The Time, and scooping out the bottom of the crotch curve really did help me. I have the opposite of a flat seat (very curvy, very prominent, exaggerated curve in spine that makes it stick out even more) but I think my crotch curve is lower in back than front and the scooping helps that. It also just gives you more crotch length in that area, which might help as well for the not-so-flat butts amongst us.

    It's funny to look at your side view because my side view always look the opposite-- the side seam at the hip pulling backward toward my expansive booty. :) I would add at the side seam on the front piece (whereas I am always adding at the side seam on the back piece).

    I'll be interested to see what works for you. I finally have a pants pattern or two which look pretty good on me, but I know those fixes are just specific to me. I do want to forewarn you that adding and subtracting from the crotch points (i.e. inseams) was disastrous for me and really messed up the hang of the pants. I will leave those alone from here on out.

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