Thursday, May 28, 2009

Sulking over Pants

I am not happy about this statement: I can not make any more pants that I know are not perfect. Sigh. There. I made up my mind.

My sewing hobby is motivated by the urge to make pants that fit. And I want to do it in the best possible way. I know that "best" is subjective. But it was really interesting to hear Connie Crawford's critique of the big pattern companies - about their fit, their patterns, etc. I take it with a grain of salt - she was, afterall, hawking her own line of pattern and her books. But many things she said about patterns and working with fabric made very good sense to me. So, this means working with my sloper so that I can make my own patterns.


To help me on my way, I bit the bullet and purchased two of her books. Luckily, I was able to get a copy of her Guide to Fashion Sewing on Half.com for half the cover price. She really did have many good tips in her 'Sew Like a Pro' presentation, which I am already putting to good use. I feel like my sewing education thus far has been very scatter shot. Maybe going thru this book carefully and systematically will fill in the gaps and ensure that I develop good habits and techniques.

I walked over to the FIT Bookstore yesterday afternoon and picked up her pattern making book as well. There were no copies on Half.com, but - lucky for me - it was 25% off the whopping $100 cover price at FIT - and autographed, to boot! I think I will be making return visits to their bookstore.

The other pattern drafting books that I browsed thru were so incredibly complicated and dry. Looking at them hurt my brain. Her book was definitely more user friendly and well illustrated. And, I have to admit that the young outfit on the cover of this book gives me hope that I will be able to create styles that I will want to wear. As a further incentive, when I flipped thru, I noticed that it had instructions for creating a deep cowl neckline - a style I love and haven't been able to find elsewhere.

Sloper on right and tracings on the left.

Anyway, over the weekend, when I started to lean in this direction - putting Simplicity on hold and working on pattern drafting instead - I traced my sloper to pattern paper, lowering the waist by 2 inches. Or, rather, lopping off the top 2 inches, whichever way you want to think of it. I also traced a basic pattern for a skirt, using my pants sloper as a base. Now, I have to learn how to eliminate the front darts so that I can make a flat front pant and skirt.

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