Jalie 2909---Pic Heavy

  Ok, I've submerged myself in a sea of information and  now it's time to come up for some air. I've spent the last 2 weeks (yes, 2 weeks) studying pants fitting. I studied several books, watched dvd's, and studied some of my RTW pants. I chronicled the early parts of my journey in this previous post and have finally concluded with a finished pair of pants.  Are they the perfect pair of pants? Of course not. But I'm delighted to say for my very first pair of pants they aren't that bad and I'm happy with the results.
  I plan to give myself a small break from pants (you know to allow all that great info to sink in) and then have another go at it. My goal is to become good enough with pants construction that I'll be able to not only make pants for myself but for my clients as well! I'm pretty excited by all that I've learned and would love to share some of those tidbits with you. But first, here' the pattern review.

Pattern Jalie 2909

Pattern Description:
Women's elegant close-fitting trousers with regular rise (at the navel), flattering flared leg, waistband, back darts and zip fly with button closure at the front.

(I asked my husband to take a full length pic and I noticed he cut my fee off up above. 

So here's the lower half :) I stupidly did a 2" hem. I'll go back and reduce it to 1". For my long legs a pant can never be too long!)

Pattern Sizing:
I cut a size U

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes--- minus a few changes that I made to it.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Very much so!!! But I used Sanda Betzina's fly front instructions instead of the enclosed instructions. I love her method--it's just SSSOOO very easy! Anyone nervous about sewing fly front, have no fear! Just Google her method to find the video online.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I liked modern look of the pants.  The wide legs and fit were definitely what I was looking for. Since this was my first pants pattern I didn't want any pockets, belt carriers, etc. Plus I just need some very stylish fitted trousers to wear with all of my cute tops. Pants are so hard for me to find (since I have a 34" inseam) so I needed a pattern that I could make over and over again--and do so rather quickly---and more importantly, inexpensively:)

Fabric Used:
I believe it was a black, stretch cotton sateen.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I definitely had to shorten the crotch length in the front since I had some major folds in the crotch area. I ended up using a deconstructed pair of Lerner of New York capri's as my guide. I detailed some of the changes I made on a blog post I wrote a week or so ago here.  Also, these pants ended up being pretty snug.  I can attribute that to the thickness of the fabric. So I ended up letting 1/8" out of the side seam (especially since the seam allowance is only 3/8"). Also, somehow with the merging of the pattern and deconstructed pants, and letting out the side seam, my waist ended up being a little wider than my waist band. So since I ran a little short in the waistband length, instead of doing a button and button hole, instead I did a clasp.

 

 

(I still wasn't able to get rid of those pesky back leg wrinkles. When I remake these I plan to go a size up and work on the "shape" of the back crotch curve. I suspect I'll be able to remedy them that way.)

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Yes, absolutely I will sew it again. I have a couple of fit issues to resolve, but as soon as I do I'll be "assembly-lining" this one. This is a great pant to have lots of copies of.

Conclusion:
This is really a great pattern!!!! For those of you who are experts at fitting pants this will be a breeze. For the newbies I think it's an excellent practice pattern.

So you read the review. Now here's some of the additional things I learned from the time I spent studying pants making......

(Out of all the books that I studied.......)

 

 (This book ended up being my favorite and in my opinion the most comprehensive one. It took you from body analysis, to measurement taking, to muslin fitting, to transferring changes to the pattern, and ending up at fine-tuning the pants. None of my other books, although really good and helpful, covered this subject in such depth.)

  

 (I'm a very visual person, so this picture helped me understand the general differences in the shapes of both the front and back pattern pieces. Notice the front crotch curve is alot shorter then the back crotch curve.)

  

 (Every body is different and thus interprets the fit of a pattern differently (hence the need to make adjustments). So it's important to take time to analyze your figure.)

  

(I didn't realize that knock-knees and bow-legs would effect the hang of pants---especially since I have neither. But it makes complete sense when you think of it).

(The bodies "wedge", which is depicted here as the angle between the slope of the back and the distance of the protruding rear. Knowing this can help determine how to angle the crotch curve to match it. This is an interesting alteration and a new concept to me.)

(And some fine-tuning tips once your pants are sewn.)

(This is a Threads article (mag # 122) that I also found interesting and helpful....)

(.....especially this page in particular. It's interesting that fitting pants takes more than just knowing your crotch length. You have to understand how that length is distributed and shaped. You have to become familiar with your "body space".  I actually own one of those flex rulers. It was helpful and pretty fun to find my crotch length and shape.)

Well it's been a very productive 2 weeks!!! After 3 muslins and finally a complete pair of trousers I feel I've gotten some real hands on experience in pants construction. Although I have to move on to some non-pant projects for the next couple of weeks, I look forward to my next pants project and to hopefully getting even better at pants fitting and construction!!! Thanks for following along with me:)

Sewing Textbooks on the Radar

There are a few NEW construction and patternmaking Fairchild books that I would love to get my hands on. I'm self taught to a large degree so I depend on good textbooks (and DVD's, etc) to help me improve my skills.  Although I own a load of books on a wide array of sewing subjects, I'm very particular about the textbooks I purchase--especially since they're so expensive. I only like the one's that are used in major universities and are well reviewed. Here are the 3 I'm looking at....

#1

(I have several patternmaking books already. I can never just own one book on a subject. I like to look at that subject from different angles. It's what I call--"layered learning".

#2

 (For obvious reasons--who wouldn't want more insight into the world of couture methods.)

#3

And The Flat Patternmaker's Handbook hitting the shelves in Feb 2010 (No cover design yet)

And an older book I'd love to get would be....

 I'll keep my eyes out for these. I'll track them down on sale somewhere and eventually add them to my collection.

Fortunately  I live in the same city with SCAD (the Savannah College of Art and Design) . Oftentimes I like to visit their bookstore and check out the books being used in their courses. Unfortunately each class is $2000 so I won't be taking any classes from there anytime soon. I'd only be interested in the draping or patternmaking one's anyway.  I'd love to take a few classes from Georgia Southern but I can't seem to align that with my full-time work schedule. So as you see I kinda have to teach myself and learn from the wonderful wealth of info that other bloggers share. Which is cool...as long as I'm learning about my favorite subject, I can't complain:)