Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Thurlow Pants and Ottobre Woman top


 Sewaholic's Thurlow Pants are wonderful! This is my second muslin. There are still some fitting tweaks but overall a flattering fit and wearable. This is a 21 wale cordoroy with a slight stretch. I am not usually too keen on cordoroy because it tends to make one look heavier. So, I am guessing when I make this in twill, it will be even more slimming. (yay!).  My first muslin, I made a weird adjustment. Besides taking an 1 1/2 off of the length (they are still too long), I angled the zipper seam back 1/2 inch tapering to zero 3 inches down.  There seemed to be too much fabric just in the front middle.  I definitely have a tummy, so I am wondering if it is just the angle of my hips.  


The obligatory shot from behind.  One leg has wrinkles and the other not so much. Hmmmmm, I am usually pretty careful about grainline. Maybe one thigh is larger? Let me know what you think.  The Ottobre top from 5-2012 needs a sway back adjustment. More on that pattern later.
Some notes on the pattern itself:
The instructions are good.  I automatically grade my seam allowances on waistbands and other bulky areas, but it is not mentioned in their instructions. I used a lining fabric on the inside of the waistband and should have used the corduroy. The hook and eye closure that I used had prongs instead of sewn.  The prongs needed a more substantial fabric to latch onto. I also omitted beltloops because I never wear my shirts tucked. On step 17 the dotted sewing line goes straight at the center of the waistband when it should angle back in order to accommodate the folding down of the waistband. The back seam has a wide seam allowance to adjust fit. I used the actual chalk line because of my sway back. I also scooped out the back crotch 1/4 inch. I compared the flexible ruler version of my crotch curve to the pattern's stitching line.
Ottobre tee shirt from 5/2012:
Nice tee shirt pattern.  The arms are slim fitting and it is fitted at the hips. The brown fabric  is a stretchy rayon knit and the pattern fit OK with this fabric. The black and white Escher print from Fabrique! fabrics was more stable. I added width to the pattern at my hips to allow for this difference.  I forgot to add a bit of width to the arms and now they are a somewhat tight. I did a forward shoulder adjustment to the Escher top which improved the looks. I still need to shorten this top at the back waist and add a sway back adjustment. Both tops have a FBA.
I am just starting on fit issues and I am looking forward to getting this part of my sewing better.

Sewing hugs!
Claire

7 comments:

  1. Great fit, Claire! On pants, the devil is in the details and you are nailing it...you are so cute! Hope we get to meet one day soon...

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  2. Thanks Dorcas! I will definitely get down to Houston sometime and look you up. I have some girl friends that live there too.

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  3. Hello, I saw your review on pattern review.nice job..pant are so hard when it comes to fit. Your pants look great. I too have extra fabric in the front. I tried take in a tuck where the fabric was and it fixed it. Like a sway tuck tapering out at the seams.

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    1. Hi THG, Is your front pattern adjustment horizontal to the floor? If so, I have done that on pants patterns before. When I pulled on the front center seam on the first muslin for this pattern, that seemed to do the trick. I usually do the horizontal dart on the big 4, mainly because their waistlines are usually too tall for me.

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  4. I have been looking for a pants pattern like this. I am also short and don't like lots of extra fabric thru the hips. Having grown up wearing jeans, I do like like baggy fitting pants and gaping pockets. So you like these? I am going to have to order them and try the fit. Thanks for the info and photos.

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    1. Hi Patricia,
      I really like these pants. What I forgot to mention was that I had taken an all day car trip the day I took these pics. The pattern is very fitted through the hips which I like. The picture of the brown top at the bottom of this post, I am wearing my favorite Gap jeans and I was hoping these would be similar. I actually like the Thurow fit better. I tried the Juniper Collete pants and the legs are way too wide for my height. Good luck!

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  5. You could drop that crotch seam from where it starts to curve under in the back all the way past va-jay-jay junction and to nothing at the front by 1/2 inch or more to avoid that seam creeping into your crack.I like to hand baste first a little and see if I can get rid of those wrinkles in the inseam. This works for most patterns and clients as long as you have enough ease in the thighs as the horizontal basting borrows from side seams along the way.

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