Pants Fitting

Pants are one of those garments that when they fit, they are a dream, and it takes a really well-made pair to fit right cause there are so many things that can go wrong.

Recently I just finished a pair for one of my grande dame clients.  My grande dame clients don't necessarily refer to the Pat Buckleys, Nan Kempners of this world that smoked and starved themselves to fit into a pre-pubescent size (read here on my opinion on that!).  I'm talking about the women who have had children, lived full lives, and now bake cookies with their grandkids, and have NORMALfigures and usually need a lot of fitting when they do clothes.

And this (above) is NOT a good fit.  Just because it's stretch and you can zip it up, does not mean it fits!

Some of the areas you have to fit that are only worrisome in pants are: 

• waist to top inseam - front and back
• width hip
• width of top leg
• inseam width not too baggy, but comfy when you sit
• ease for waist to move when you sit/stand
• hang correctly (no tilting to the front or back)
• inseam height comfy, not too tight, not too home-boy styled

This sounds minor, but the difficult part is that inseam height affects inseam width.

When you enter into the green area, you get into a sewing netherworld where in is out and out is in.  It's like some sort of Einsteinian trick or something.  This is the space where if you take the seam in - which means you normally sew on the inside or fabric side of the seam, you are actually creating more room, and if you let the seam out, which means you are sewing on the fabric edge more, you are actually making the pants tighter.

What this boils down to is that at a specific point (which is variable for every body), you have to switch from the inside of the seam to the outside of the seam if you are taking it in and vice versa if you are letting it out.

Has your head exploded yet?  It is sort of an anti-matter world in that crotch seam, but this concept is what makes pants so difficult.  Now if you can get your mind around this, you got the main battle of pants solved.

There's something else to remember here too.  If your inseam height is good, but you need more space in the hips, then you have to hit that "sweet spot" and keep your inseam height the same while changing your hip width.

You can see why pants require so many fittings.  This is why a pants sloper or basic pattern is absolutely a dream.  Once you have that pattern, you're home free - cause pants take up to an afternoon, if you're a casual sewist, to 2 hours, if you're sewing skills are honed and ready to go.

As with your blouse/shirt or any pattern, you want to buy the pattern size according to the most difficult part to alter.  In the case of pants - it's hip width (to keep from having to attack the netherworld of inseamness!).  So buy your pants pattern according to your hip size and alter your center front/back and side seams accordingly.  This will be the best way to get a good fit without that "home boy" or trailer trash (see photo above!) look that we all love so much!!! (joking of course!)

OK - I won't try an test any more of your little grey cells on this.  It can be a little daunting, but if you tackle each step, one by one, pants are a dream when they fit and they are comfy and such a fabulous contribution to your wardrobe.  I find I rely on them more and more as my knees get older and older.

Comments

[AnaJan]

This is a perfect tutorial, many thanks for the time you took to make it!

[Theresa Riess]

Thanks for the visual illustration. I'm taking a sewing class at our junior college and the first day's class had at least five of us, me included, voicing a desire for a good pants sloper. I'm going to point them all in this direction.
Theresa in Tucson

[Nancy K]

This is what Joyce Murphy talked about in a series of articles she wrote for Threads some years ago and I agree that it works quite well.

[Marianne]

Great explanation; I've just gone through a lot of pattern alterations to try to create a well fitting pair of trousers. This will help me to do the last fine-tuning. Thank you

[Cennetta]

Great post. I use a similar technique for getting the right fit. Thanks, Cennetta

[Gwensews]

Thank you for the tutorial. That crotch area has probably caused more pulled out hair than any other fittig area. Many times, I have wanted to just skip the crotch and basically end up with a skirt!

[Ann's Fashion Studio]

Thank you for such great
information /illustrations.

[Kathi]

I just bought a Burda pants pattern that I hope will become one I use often. I have found that the BWOF patterns fit me better than other patterns, so I hope that holds true for the envelope patterns. It is a simple pattern with a side zip as that tends to be a flattering style. I assume that once I get it just right, I can figure out how to make it into capri pants and how to taper the legs to create different looks!

[Tany]

I feel very lucky because I don't have to do any major pattern alteration for pants (at least that's what I'm convinced of!)

This article was very informative though

[Penelope]

I have some pants that I love the fit of? Anyway, I've gained weight, but the bottom fits just fine. I want to add the bottom to a top..is that feasible? how do I adjust, and where? Please help

[ClaireOKC]

Penelope - I'm posting over at sewingartistry.com. I'll answer your question over there in the next couple of days.