I found some nice looking fabric today and decided to try my hand at making a pair of pants. The ready made ones look awful on me. I am an apple shape...with real skinny legs. I do have the link to the web site "Fitting Pants for the truly terrified"... but if anyone has any other helpful suggestions would appreciate hearing them. I have managed to lose some weight but not around the middle ... and tapering the pants from big midsection to small hips and legs is a big problem. Thanks.
If you can find a copy, the Singer Reference Library "Sewing Pants that Fit" is a really nifty resource too. Lemme see..... Mine says copyright 1989. Cowles Creative Publishing Inc. Minnetonka, Minnesota.... ISBN
0-86573-251-5 or for paperback 0-86573-252-3 with all that maybe you could find it on interlibrary loan or something.
When you make your test pants, make sure you mark the grainlines right on the muslin... you want the lengthwise grainlines in the legs, front and back, and the crossgrains over the broadest parts of your body marked. Also mark the knee level... the nominal level for the knee is halfway from hem to crotch level.
And a helper to pin on your command will also really help.
Put on the test pair and look at what the grainlines are doing. Adjust things so the grainlines are straight on the upper body -- ignore all that extra fabric flapping around your legs for a minute. You may find that the waistline of the pants doesn't coincide with where you want your waistband to sit... many of us with "mature figures" have a tilted waistline, lower in the front than the back. It is ok to make pants with tilted waistlines, too... and they'll hang a lot better if the grainlines are straight.
Above the knee line you can pretty much pin out what you need to to make the pants fit and keep the grainlines straight. Below the knee line, you pin out equal amounts from the inseam and the outseam, and equal amounts from the front and back. This will keep the pants legs balanced, so they don't twist as you're walking.
Let us know how the test pair fits... we can probably help you fine tune them.
And try to avoid overfitting...my big sin. If you can't sit down, you need more ease! (I really need to write on the blackboard "I will not overfit" 100 times. )
Or buy yarn-dyed "muslin" -- any woven-in check, stripe, or plaid that you find in the remnant bin.
I lucked into thirty yards of plaid cotton-linen shirting at a dollar a yard, but it makes such comfortable pajamas that I've taken to saving for patterns I know will fit well enough to garden in.
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