Monthly Archives: December 2014

Vogue 8940 Trousers: The Muslin

Sunday, I traced out the trouser pattern from Vogue 8940 and made a muslin, and I’m back to report my first attempts at fitting them.

Pattern Details

Vogue 8940 is a contemporary styled, tapered trouser pattern.  Some things I noticed about it:

  • It has slant pockets in front. In back it does not have welt pockets, as I first guessed. The rear pockets are on-seam pockets, using the yoke seam. The rear pockets are covered with flaps.
  • Unlike the Jedediah pants, V8940 has a contoured waistband with overlap and underlap extensions across center front.
  • The pattern comes in two multisize editions: 34-36-38-40, and 40-42-44-46. I have both editions, so all bases are covered.

Continue reading →

Every Threads Magazine Article on Pants Fitting

As part of my ongoing project to learn pants fitting, I’ve been searching for more learning resources. I went to the San Francisco Public Library and found three books on fitting:

  • Pants for Real People, the Palmer/Pletsch book on pants fitting.
  • Vogue Fitting, a book from the ’80s with a chapter on pants fitting.
  • Fabulous Fit, a modern book featuring the seam method of pattern alteration.

I’ve also been spending some time with my copy of the Threads Magazine DVD Archive looking for articles on pants fitting. The Threads DVD Archive has to be one of the best sewing instructional purchases I’ve made; there’s literally hundreds of articles in there I find fascinating. It was difficult for me to look through the archive because I kept running into the temptation to go off on a tangent looking at some other interesting article.

What’s more, the magazine issues are all standard PDF files, without copy protection, so it’s straightforward to copy them onto a tablet or similar device for ease of reading.  Thank you Threads magazine for trusting your readers.

My copy of the archive goes through the end of 2012, up to issue 164. To find the articles, I used the online, searchable index at the Threads website, but their search interface is quite poor (both online and the version that comes with the disc). So I had to do a lot of legwork on my own to filter through these articles. Continue reading →

It’s Not You, It’s the Pattern

I really appreciate all the constructive critical feedback I received in my previous article on pants fitting.  I value the critical feedback every bit as much as I do the “Great work!” style comments, because they truly help me learn and get better as a sewist.  So thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a comment.

More Jed Fitting

Last time, I had promised to show you the photos of the latest rounds of fitting on the Jedediah Pants pattern.  Picking up where we left off, this photo shows the fitting session after I added the wedge of fabric back into the crotch seam, at the top of the pants back and just below the yoke piece.

I took the liberty of adding a waistband to get a better feel for how the waist hangs in back. I also added a zipper in front to make the fitting easier.

IMG_1672 Continue reading →

Pants Fitting: Perfect is the Enemy of Good

I have started a new project; pants based on the Jedediah Pants pattern from Thread Theory Designs.

This “new” project is actually a continuation of the “Breakfast Club Wardrobe” project, though since it had gone on for so long I’m splitting it into two projects: the shirts (completed) and now the pants.

Given the amount of effort involved in producing a hand-made garment, I’ve come to realize that the effort is wasted if the fit and style aren’t also right.  So I’m really trying to get the fit right before making three pairs of pants based on the pattern.

For readers new to the blog, this is not the first time I’ve wrestled with fitting this pattern.  I’ve made several past attempts to fit these pants:

This latest round of fitting picks up where I left off. Continue reading →

Getting Acquainted with the New Machine

Before we get going, I just wanted to thank everyone for the discussion in my previous article, Three Tailoring Classes at Craftsy. The comments were hugely beneficial for me and touched on some deep issues such as how and when to turn an avocation into a vocation. Thank you for reading and contributing to the blog.

I haven’t had enough time to really get acquainted with my new Juki machine – that’s likely to take months. But a few things I’ve noticed: Continue reading →