The Fitting Challenge!

So, this week's challenge from Fabric Mart was focusing on fitting and using a solid fabric since you can see how a garment actually fits rather than being hidden from florals or other distractions!  Oh fitting!  While sometimes I am perfectly happy with how I look, other times, like when I am fitting pants, I feel like I need to spend the next eight weeks at the gym working with a personal trainer!  It doesn't help that I am a 50+ woman!    So, here is my efforts at fitting pants....

Personally I like making pants.    And, while some people get annoyed reading reviews of the same pattern someone has created ad nauseum, I strongly believe that repeating patterns give you a chance to perfect the fit.  With that said, I created two pairs of pants for this challenge but ended up settling on jeans for my submission.  I LOVE Vogue 8774 and have created them at least four times and while I intensely worked on the fit (again) I still think I might be able to do some additional tweaking.  Know what I mean?

So back to my creation for this week....jeans!  The impetus for choosing pants was the dreadful pair I pulled from my closet last week to wear to work.  They were grey jeans with some bling on the back pockets.  I love the color but HATE the fit!  And, they are super high-waisted when compared to most jeans that sit on the hip bones rather than the true waist.  I felt like an 80's mom!  So, off those went to the charity pile and I set out making pants that fit me and my challenges.

So what fitting issues did I deal with?
1.  Flat derriere.
2.  Wide upper thighs aka saddle bags--which btw are hereditary--thanks mom!
3.  Crotch curve--yes, everyone's is unique and I had to resculpt it to fit me!
4.  Waistline--no matter how carefully I measure and plan, I have to alter the waistline after I create the pants.  Luckily these days I have to take it in rather than out but it is tedious to get it perfect.

So, how did I do all this?
1.  Flatness--I pulled out three sewing books from my library to figure out how to deal with this issue and was surprised that no one really addressed it!  What happens to me is that I get a little pooling of fabric under my buns that looks like a cowl-neck.  I did manage to find an article on line that suggested making an adjustment by taking a fold in the pattern tissue to eliminate the excess, sort of like when you make swayback adjustment.  Now, why didn't I think of that?  I had to work really hard not to over-fit in this area as I stated before my upper thighs are wider than I'd like so too much fitting accentuates my little pools of fat there.  So if you notice just a little extra fabric, that is a preference for me.
Because of the flatness, I had to rotate the back inseam to the front by 3/8" to get the inseams and outter seams to hang right.  I spent a great deal of time bonding with my seamripper for this challenge!

Another thing I did was to make a swayback adjustment.  I completed that by 14" in the yoke and another 1/4" at the waistband.  I like spreading the adjustment out as I think it looks better and feels better when you wear the pants!
2.  Wide upper thighs--pretty self explanatory, right?
3.  Crotch curve issues....ah, the crotch curve!  I get these annoying little lines at the front crotch that I pinched out and took about an inch seamline.  No more lines!
Back crotch curve was a different matter.  With that seamline I made a 'j' seam by taking in an additional 5/8" from the back seamline which you can see below.

Those were my main fitting issues.  Construction wise, I am very proud of how these jeans turned out!  They are very comfortable and I am very happy with the fit!  I like the addition of the white jeans thread I used to dress them up just a bit!

Length is a challenge for me with this pattern.  Being only 5'7", I didn't think I would need to lengthen them but I did by about 1.5".  Just beware of the length if you choose to whip up this pattern!