Hey everybody!
Have you got your crotch curve right? And what about the crotch length and the hip width? How is it going?
Anyway. As you might be able to see, I’ve had to retrace my pattern from the last post. No, actually the pictures in the last post was from when I tissue fitted this for my self the first time, and I have of course altered since then, but haven’t got any pictures of it (stupid me). So I retraced the version that was already fitted regarding crotch curve and hip, and decided to go from there. This time I traced it onto pattern interfacing. It’s a medium weight no-glue non-stretch interfacing that I like to use for tissue fitting. Only downside is that you need to be careful of the warm iron (not too warm!) – but on the other hand it doesn’t wrinkle easily, and that you need to use a marker to draw on it. Pencil is no good.
So I evaluate the fit from behind. First thing that is obvious to me, is that my cheek is pushing the fabric out and creating lines that points to that. Well. No surprises there, the bigger the bump, the bigger the dart. I pin the dart deeper, and add a little to the side seam to match what I’ve taken in the dart. This works for me. Other people might prefer the Full butt adjustment as explained here.
That settled, I’m ready to move on. See all the bagginess under my bottom? Yes. I always have bagginess there – even in stretch skinny jeans (then they’re just folds of fabric). If I was to pin it out it would be a horizontal fish-eye dart, and that wont do in fabric, so it’s good to catch it in tissue. I used to do a rather complicated alteration with this, but now I’m using this really very easy method by Kenneth King: A fix for a Baggy Seat.
Remember to move the knee markings to make up for the length you removed by the tuck – as well as adding to the hem.
Now is also a good time to check the length of the trousers. I put on the shoes I plan to wear with the finished trousers (or some of the same height, and check to see if the length is right. If not, I alter it. What length is the right length for wide legged trousers? Well. It is a matter of taste. I like my legs to look longer, but I don’t like the hem to swallow my foot completely, so I go for a length that just about touches the shoe in the front, but doesn’t make the hem rest on the shoe. Here is an article about where to hem your trousers.
I am going to stop for today and save some wrinkles for later.
If you’d like to work on your own, I highly recommend (as I wrote in the Gather-your-supplies post) Pants for Real People for evaluating any wrinkles and folds and figuring out what to do about them. You can check out the sampler here, where they also show some tissue fitting, but they have really good prices on it as an e-book right now, so consider getting it (In Sony, Kindle and Itunes, anyway)!
Thanks for sharing. I find it very hard to do the tissue fitting…so I sewed up the muslin…I just uploaded my pictures on Flickr. Would love your feedback
Hey Silvia
I will have time to go into this in more detail tomorrow. For now I think the back fit looks fine. except, you might have an issue with bagginess, the same as mine – just below the cheeks. Try pinching out and then pinning a fisheye dart there.
Also. I think you should correct the length before you move on.
I think either your front crotch curve should be more straight or you need to let out the inseam in the front.
Wow! I love your posts. So informative and helpful!