totchipanda

Saturday I made the pattern changes I wanted to try and made another mockup. I thought I might go straight to a wearable one but... no. And I'm glad I didn't because I still needed some tweaks.

Version 3 changes:
Added 1" height to CF for belly
Added 1" to CB for booty
Took in a larger dart
Cut a size 12 waistband at CB ONLY
Still needed to stitch it in closer to a size 10
Sewed in the pocket lining as a proper pocket to determine if it gapped or not (it does not)

Fit was much better. The waistband sits above my belly button now and nicely in my lower back. The front clearly shows drag lines still from my belly. I don't want to add any more height, so I've moved the bit that I raised back to it's previous position (just raised), which added about 5/8" in width. I've decided to split the single dart into two, and then will need to determine how that affects the side seam, because it's sitting really really really close to where it belongs.

Plus I might need to make some adjustments for thigh, because the fabric (admittedly a very light poly shirt/dress fabric from probably 1993) shows clearly where the thigh breaks. I'm telling you, I should have been tall! Stretch all these leg muscles out a few inches!

Still need some room around my ass, so I lengthened the crotch depth again, and the inseam by 3/4". Did NOT mirror those on the front, as I think it's pretty close to done? Maybe I should though, that might keep the front from pulling so hard over the belly. (I think I can stitch a spacer in the inseam on my current version rather than making a whole new mockup. Again.) Then, once the fit is good, I can transfer it to the pants version, and that WILL get a mockup because there might be some leg fit issues that will need adjustment too.

I really need to find my Fabricland gift certificates, at least one of which is 4 years old, because I really need to invest in some interfacing if I'm going to be making myself lots of pants. I saw an image while I was searching 1940s trouser patterns about using petersham in the waistband, but to the best of my knowledge, that was for a straight waistband, not a shaped one.

Tried on the Wearing History trousers from last summer, with the hem shortened and pinned up. Glad I haven't stitched it yet, because they rest on top of my foot, right at the ankle break. It feels so short! But is that my modern sensibilities? And they're so WIDE. Considering trying to nip them in a little before hemming.

Also finished stitching the velvet ribbon onto the hem! YAY! I tried it on in the living room with NONE of the layers under it, and it puddles a tiny bit yet. As soon as I get shoes on and a petticoat and the like, it should be fine. Just needs closures! I wanted to do snaps and a hook and bar, but I only have tiny snaps. Luckily I don't need to wear it anywhere yet.

Pants resources

While noodling about how to modify the shorts for more butt/thigh room, I remembered I had seen a period drafting guide from around 1900 about "corpulent" trousers (that is, big belly, not necessarily obesity). The first few I remembered I didn't find the information in, but then I DID find one. Direct page link.* The best thing I noted, in reading the drafting directions, was that in lifting the back, one should also extend the crotch depth seam by an equal amount, and blending it out down the leg. Juuust like I've been doing. I'm onto something!

*(also, they are currently under attack from publishers wanting to control how libraries distribute their materials, which the archive has also purchased the license to do so via those libraries. I saw this on Tumblr where one person, possibly also on twitter, said that losing the archive would be like losing the library of Alexandria again. Fuckin' capitalism. Maybe go download your favourites, just in case)

After the magic of pants (shorts, really) that actually fit on Saturday, I spent the afternoon cleaning off the outside air conditioning unit. I thought it was covered in tree fluff, but it turned out to be about 85% dog hair. I don't think it was ever cleaned after it was installed. It took about an hour, including removing the top in an attempt to get at the coil more easily (it was not), and putting it back on. I used a bamboo skewer and my fingies to pull it all loose, and I wore two masks to keep from getting my sinuses full of... whatever was stuck to it. So much dust flew out.

Yesterday I was like YES I'm going to see how my new favourite pattern compares to the Thurlow trousers I made last year, and ended up doing some tidying/rearranging in the sewing room instead. I moved the mirror from its home of 2 or 3 years, measured some spaces to see about more desks for sewing equipment, and then emptied out two boxes of stuff from the old apartment, which def had been affected by the flood. Oh, and I swept the floor, so a year's worth of basement dust on bare concrete and flood-debris, my sinuses were done with that too TYVM. I did lay out the pattern (what started the cleaning/organizing was the number of dust bunnies, and wanting to get at my pattern box) and like... yikes.

I don't think I ever posted about the Thurlow mock-ups here. I believe I was making a size 12, and for a pattern that is purported to be drafted for people with larger hip/waist ratios, I still had too-tight hips and gapping waistband. I had add 2" to the rise since I wanted something that came up over my belly, and I had drag lines EVERYWHERE. I still don't know enough about pants fitting (despite utilizing the excellent and long guide Mala linked in a previous entry) to understand where the issues are (dear high school sewing classes: THIS WOULD BE USEFUL TO LEARN). So they've been in time-out ever since. I don't even know where the mock-up is.

Well I overlaid my modified pattern with the Pietra pattern and I would need to add a little to the inseam/crotch seam and then 2" MINIMUM to front and back. All while still keeping the waist more or less the same. Goodness. I was too tired yesterday to make much sense of it, so I ended up leaving it all on the table and took a nap.

Today I have printed out the plus size version of the pants I tried on Thursday. We shall see how they turn out later in the week.

And thankfully, the heat wave broke on Friday night. Saturday was a pleasant afternoon to spend peeling 3 summers worth of dog hair from the AC unit, and yesterday was also very pleasant. Today it is currently 16C (like... 65F?) and cloudy and it is DELIGHTFUL.