Despite my 4 billion sewing patterns, I didn't have close-fitting cropped pants pattern. I looked thru my BurdaStyle magazines, all of my vintage (all the vintage pants are too small), and my current patterns and NOPE! No pants. Of course, I have a love/hate relationship with pants. I like to wear them, and when they fit they're very flattering, much more so than a skirt, but ...OMG!! when they're wrong, they're very very very wrong.
I went with Burda because I have more luck with their fit being accurate than I do with most commercial American sewing patterns. (If you have some recommendations for well-fitting adult sewing patterns, let me know!) I can sew well enough that I'm not put off by potential difficulty so I don't really consider that when looking for a pattern.
In any case, here are the pants! According to my measurements and Burda's chart, I needed a 44 for most of the pants, a 42 in the waist. I totally should have cut a 42 all over, maybe even *gasp* a 40! After I basted the side seams (darts in place) and tried it on, there was a good 1.5 extra fabric at the crotch-level hip, and 1/2 inch too much at the waist (below the waist band) despite the pattern saying these were close-fitting. Obviously, I didn't expect this much "ease" in these pants, ha ha!
William took these pics, and they're horrible. I smiled a lot, but for some reason, he caught very few of me smiling, and those were blurry. Stinkin' 4 year-old-photographers!
I cut a size smaller waist, too, and it was still too big. These were all minor issues fixed easily, but the extra fabric in the front due to the larger size cut thru the crotch left me with a poochy area in the front. It's not HORRIBLE, and I'm sure that would be remedies by cutting a smaller size in the front. On these pants, I'll probably just dart up thru the waistband.
"here, let me explain ONE MORE TIME"
look, I'm smiling crazily!
And, then, he cut off my head. No matter, my clothes look great here.
I hoped for a good view of just the pants, but William couldn't figure out how to get both the waist AND the hem in the same pic.
However, this view shows how the back fits well, but how loose the front area is.
The back of the pants fits wonderfully, though, so aside from making the smaller size next time, there's nothing I have to do with those. The length is perfect, even though I'm 5'8. Hurray! I'll def make these again, and I bet they're fast when you don't have to do all that basting. ;) Not to bad for a muslin, I can probably wear these in public, after I iron them.
The outfit is the tie-front bolero I just made, an Anthropologie top c. 2006 spring, and Steve Madden shoes c. 2004 (yeah, I have no new shoes)
Next up, I have these three in mind:
This tie-shrug from a tee-shirt
This BurdaStyle tutorial in this vintage fabric from Donny Moda's sale.It's a vertical design and very slinky-flowy. I think the drawstring neckline will allow the design to be better appreciated. I'm afraid something too structured would interrupt the design annoyingly. I do hope I have less trouble with the hem then the author did.
And, finally, I'm making this vintage tunic (with ***eleven*** pattern pieces), and a button-up back.
Out of this stretch poplin, I think. If I like how it goes together, and can make a couple of shortcuts, then I have some other fabrics I'd like to use, too.
Now, off to go thru my tees so I can see if I have any matching ribbons for that shrug! I *may* have to make a trip to JoAnn! ACK!
2 comments:
Oh man, your 4-year-old photographer... Too funny. I wonder how well Grace would do with the camera these days?
Anyway, I said this on Facebook already, but if you ever are in the mood to try a different pants draft, the Ottobre ones were really good for me (and my main pants fitting issues are a very prominent full butt compared to the rest of my figure and an insane swayback).
I will try those, I just needed some instant gratification. I didn't want to wait 2 weeks for an Otto to show up! LOL! I also need to get another year of BurdaStyle. I don't do Otto sub anymore b/c they're so girl heavy and I mostly only sew for the boys. I have plenty of little girl dress patterns to pull from, and TBH, I usually just make up one quickly from KSFT.
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