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June 3, 2022
One of the things that can prevent you from finishing a garment (remember last week - "Is it finished or not?"), is the bargaining on some fitting issues. The most predominant bargaining that I notice (other than those glaring issues), is the bargaining between baggy and fitted and that especially applies to pants.
First we need some definitions and a little history here to put things in perspective. Fashion has taken a whole new path with the onset of the Instagramers. What this did was take the editing control of what the public sees out of the hands of the professional editors. For whatever else you may think of those fashion editors, they at least had professional designers in their portfolios so that the consumer didn't see the mistakes or
problems or weirdness for the sake of weirdness (which doesn't do anything but make fashion more weird). So the control went into the hands of anyone who had a smart phone and over 100,000 bot-followers. These Instagramers/Smartphone owners, don't have any idea about what makes good fashion and what doesn't. As a result we had everything including the kitchen sink out there as a fashion trend.
So what happens? Well, this sort of fashion trend becomes normalized. There is nothing left to the imagination here as every curve and shape and lump is exposed. Maybe this is OK for this person, but for a lot of us, this is not OK.
This then presents the dilemma of what is OK for each individual that doesn't think the above fit is suitable for them. If you happen to be working in an office and want to have a professional appearance, this pant fit (above) isn't your look. If you happen to be conducting a volunteer organization meeting, this isn't your look. If you happen to have some age and figure issues with your butt (yep, that's me), this isn't
your look.
But this is the look that's put out there as being okay AND fashionable.
Then we have this look
Although these are probably a lightly stretching woven fabric for the pants and a knit for the top, there's really TMI for most people in this style. Maybe if we had one part that was the focus here, that would be okay, but having the nipple, butt silhouette, waist cinch all as focal points is not only too much information about this body. It's over-done.
But this photo brings up another part about what are allowable wrinkles at what aren't.
So here's where we are with two choices:
1. Wear something skin tight
or
2. Wear something baggy
That's literally the fitting choices we have as we look at what's available in the stores.
 
Here are baggy on the left or so tight we can't sit on the right (and TMI).
Now, I know you're waiting for me to give you a magic formula for what that perfect fit is with just the right ease without being baggy and just the right fit without TMI tight! Here's what I do with my clients: we go back and forth a little with this, cause the real truth on this is that it's personal. You probably have to make it too tight so that it's
uncomfy to sit, and then you let it out, but you think it's too baggy when you stand. And you can go back and forth a little before you get that sweet spot.
What happens is that you will have to give on both bagginess and discomfort. What you're searching for is a bagginess that's acceptable for the comfort you need with the discomfort you will accept for the tightness you want.
Realize too that stretch fabrics have become a huge mainstay if not the predominant fabric in women's wardrobes. There's good reason for this. With the emphasis on exercise in our culture, which is a very good thing, we go to the gym and all those clothes we wear there are stretch. So you go home and change into your work clothes for the office and they aren't stretchy and suddenly they feel binding and confining. So
manufacturers and designers got the message and started making more stretch clothing for business.
That means we have a preponderance of stretchy fabrics out there that allow us to have a tighter (non-baggy) fit and yet we have the comfort when we sit.
This is why I do not teach the woven pants anymore. I teach the ponte pant.
The truth is that there is so much available in the stretch category, that if you are fighting that fit between baggy and comfort, then most likely a stretch fabric will do.
Here are some categories of stretch fabrics that will help you make your decision about this.
Stretch Wovens
These are woven fabrics that have 3% to 5% Lycra, Elastane or Spandex (they are all the same thing) in them. At most these will have maybe a 10%, or possibly as high as 15% stretch. That's not much stretch.
For these fabrics I use a woven pattern. You can even use a woven that be older and be just a little snug on you.
Stable Knits
This includes Ponte, Ponte di Roma (the same as ponte really), Neoprene, Scuba knit and Doubleknits.
These are not the doubleknits of your parents' in the 1970s. These are marvelously made and very lovely knits. All of these knits have a more comfy 20% to 35% stretch. They are a little thicker, but that doesn't mean that they are hotter.
One of the things I love most about stable knits is that they can be tailored. This is my tailored suit in a ponte knit. I love this look and I look smart, fitted, tailored, professional and yet hip, and certainly not frumpy or sloppy.
This is the real advantage of just a little more percentage stretch that you can't get in a stretch woven. At the same time I can tailor this to make it drape like a Savile-Row tailor would salivate over!
When you get past about 35% stretch, you get into jersey knits and activewear. Those fabrics really stretch, but the stable knits and stretch wovens are those fabrics we can tailor and make look like they are woven, but they aren't. These are the fabrics that can help you cheat and make you look like you are wearing a well-fitted woven, but you're really not.
Magic Formula
So if you were my client and came to me and then press me about what is my magic formula between comfort/sloppy vs tight/discomfort, I would probably tell you stretch fabric.
Now before you say awwwww Claire that's so cheezy. Let me tell you a discussion I had with my cousin the Oscar-winning designer. She had come for a family wedding and we were talking about what to wear. I told her I was wearing a sheer top (yes, I had a camisole underneath to prevent any public visual pollution!!!), and stretch pants. She remarked, "Oh Claire, not
stretch pants?!!!) I said, yes, wait till you see them. When met shortly before, and she said, "Those aren't stretch pants!" I had her feel them and then remark, "Ooooooo!" I think if I had my machine and fabric there (and no wedding to go to) I would have dropped down and made her a pair on the spot! But it makes my point about how these pants look gorgeous and yet are comfy!
Basically this is me giving you permission to mess around with your fit, whether it's pants or tops or whatever.
To think we can't have all of that, because the fashion industry has trained the consumers otherwise, is folly.
I want to encourage you to go beyond good construction
I want to encourage you to go beyond a good fit
I want to encourage you to go beyond comfort.
You don't have to sacrifice any one of those three for the other(s).
I want you to think in terms that you can have not only a good fit but a great fit.
I want you to think in terms of having that comfort without looking sloppy.
This comes with the caveat that you will have some bargaining to do between comfort/sloppy vs tight/discomfort and only you will know that point.
Sewing is not only about doing all the techniques as well as you can, but about fitting yourself as flatteringly as you can and as comfortably as you can.
That's why we sewists feel so sorry for those poor slobs who can't sew! We really have the upside of the consumer!
This is a beginning guide on what to do with your core pattern after you have fitted and worked on it.
All the work that you have done in your core pattern contains all the information to make a garment that you will totally love. This means you really don't have to buy another pattern for making skirts, pants or leggings. Variations on your core pattern makes it possible for you to have the styles you see in a photo or on Pinterest without having to look for the pattern that looks like it might work. You can now simply trace it onto your core pattern and
you're done.
This resource also contains some other important resources at huge discount because they are so important to this creative process of varying your core pattern. It also contains some downloads that aren't available in the Resource Library at all, but are vital toward making good design.
In this world of crazy, illogical fashion, we sewists are having to turn into designers. That sounds really hard and foreboding, but it's not. Unlike designers, we simply haven't had all the experience they have, most of that experience they got when they went to design school. More than anything I wanted to make this process encouraging, empowering and enlightening without having to worry about whether or not you could vary your core pattern.
You can! It isn't that hard. It is knowing some guidelines and charging out into the unknown. That's what we sewists do and we do it very well most of the time.
This is the beginning of the series into variations on core patterns. I wanted to start with something basic, so that you wouldn't feel so intimidated. It takes a while to write these up, cause I'm an idea factory, and coordinating and organizing these ideas can be monumental with the sewing muse yacking in my ear 24/7.
The resource is available now at a discount so that you can enjoy it before spring starts in full force. Right now, I'm thinking happy, colorful and pretty. Those are all fresh looks for future clothes. When things seem upside down, it's great to have something to make us happy and often bright, springtime and summertime fabrics are just as much as drab, dark and somber fabrics. I'm ready to be beautiful, comfortable and look flattering in my clothes and
I'm dying to share that with you.
Skirts, Core Pattern Variations, Part 1 (but there's more than skirts in here)
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