An experiment in how jeans fit - a lesson learned

A short time ago I woke up one morning and did the usual, checked Facebook before even getting out of bed.  I was quite shocked to find a screenshot off MY blog of MY Ginger Jeans posted by someone else.  This person stated that she couldn’t understand why I was so happy with the fit and that they fit terrible.  Some people in the group proceeded to pick apart all the things wrong with my body and my fit.

Totally rude and unacceptable.  I was shocked, hurt, and then angry as hell.  How dare she belittle me and steal my photo.  I typed up a comment stating it was my photo and asked her to take the post down; which she did – or an admin did, I don’t know.  She never apologized and that is the reason I’m still stewing inside over it.  It hurt, and it made me question my sewing, and my body. 

SO, I decided to do a little experiment.  To prove to myself that sewing my own things is something I should continue.   I have 4 pairs of pants in a collage below.  3 are ready to wear, store bought. 1 is self sewn.  They all have their fit issues; the pants do, not my body. My body just needs the pants to be adjusted. Some look good in some areas, some in others; none are perfect.

A different layout to see the fit differences better

Pair 1: Levi’s Curvy Bootcut; size 14.  The waist actually fits pretty nice (shocking since store jeans never fit me in the waist).  The jeans are thin and I feel like they look “bumpy” on my body because they are so thin.  They are ok, the material is not soft like the rest, but it’s not scratchy either. slightly loose.

Pair 2: Lee No Gap Waistband Curvy Fit Bootcut Jeans; size 16. The waist gaps even though it has a built in elastic part.  The elastic waist part makes me feel itchy (allergic to latex and sensory issues).  The fabric is nice, thicker, soft.  I like how they look in the front and side.  I can’t get past the waist. not loose, not tight, I like how they feel in snugness.

Pair 3: Gap Curvy Flare; size 14.  They no longer make these, they are my favorite RTW jeans.  They feel nice when I wear them, but I constantly have to pull them up.  I love the hip hugging and flare, the material is soft. After time they get really baggy in the butt and slightly baggy everywhere.

Pair 4: Ginger Jeans, modified flare; size 12 waist and on the front pant size 14 hip, the back pant 18 hip.  These feel the best on me, like they hug me just right. Are their still fit issues? sure. But I don’t really care to be honest.  The material on these is so soft.  snug and hugging.


The people that I care about, my amazing sewing friends that follow my blog, know I struggle deeply with health issues.  I have certain fit issues I just don't care to address - I put my energy into what I feel is important. 

So to the lady that put my body on blast without my permission – shame on you.

And to everyone else, the real people that matter, I will continue sewing.  I enjoy it even when it hurts, even when it sucks out all my energy.  I love the hobby and I love the community.  I love seeing all the things my sewing friends make!

I learned quite a bit from this experience.  We need to be less critical of our sewing makes.  I am horribly critical when I make something; time for that to change. Ready to wear doesn’t fit perfectly either!  Our sewing makes will almost always fit us better than anything store bought.  And if they don't, well then we learn, change the pattern, and grow from it!  It's still a fun experience. 

(Also, thank you so much Shirley for being such a great friend to me that day; you were there for me when I most needed a friend). 


Onward my sewing friends!

Kristin

Alma Progress ~ Muslin 2

I'm getting there. I am making progress.  I promise a pretty Alma will soon follow; however, I ask for advice.  You guys are the best at giving sewing and fitting advice.

Tonight I sewed up Muslin 2. I attacked that beast like a rabid wolverine.  I threw caution to the wind and went with my gut.  There may or may not be any method to my madness lol.

Here are the results.

Conquered the back! Woohoo!  This is 1.5 inches out for swayback people. one and a half. omg. I need better posture.  I also must have a narrow back because I took almost 1/2 inch tapered to zero out of the back from neck down to the swayback seam you see in the middle.  This helped with the poof tremendously.  I also let out the bottom 2 inches of each side of hip - will add 1/2" to each side because 1/4" was still too tight. 

Question. see the wrinkles still forming above the swayback line on each side?  Do I need to maybe take more out of the width here? Or seriously more out of the height? Or just leave it. lol. 

Further visual of helped swayback.  I see my vertical line from armpit to hip tips toward the back. I will most likely add my 1/2"-3/4" to each side of the hip, only to the back as my larger rear needs more fabric. That should even this line out. Which will lead to a larger problem in the front but we will get to that. 

Ah the front. Where I need the most help.  So I added 1/2" dart from neckline tapered off to waist in the center front. I seem to have excess poof here. This helped some.  It also pulled in the vertical darts in the front which they then lined up with my bust apex.  I marked this apex and saw I needed to extend the bust dart by 1" - This was ONLY fixed on my right side (your left) where you see the pink marker.  As you can see on my left, those dreadful slanted drag lines are there but on my right they are much better.  (Oh, this also has my normal square shoulder adjustment). 

I have a ton of poof under bust. Almost like I need a swayback adjustment for my front too. (LOL). Question: why do I have this poof?  Do I need to shorten the front bodice? I think I'm grabbing about 1/2" each side in the below picture.  When I'm sitting this inch folds up under my bust, too.  Hmm. perhaps I just answered my own question. 

Here I am pulling the above poof out to the side. Now I actually have another issue.  When I sit down I also get a rather decent poof above the bust - at the top of the armpit, pretty much that goes horizontal all the way across.  This is also the only time the bust feels tight across.  Not sure what to do here. The bust feels normal/slightly large when standing.  

And there you have it. Muslin 2. I'm getting super close.  Just a few more tweaks :D

I appreciate all your help - seriously. I would have ditched this awhile ago were it not for your suggestions.

(funny sidenote: to get in and out of this sans zipper with both sides sewn I almost have to be popping my shoulder out.... It got old, fast. My chiropractor would be so proud lol)

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

Epic Fail: Pattern fitting and alterations ~ Alma #2

Prepare for a long post.

Here is what I had typed out on Jan 1st.

• This year I will slow down and take my time sewing.  
• I will sew quality items I want to wear and that will wear well.  
• I am going to take pattern fitting more seriously instead of being lazy and just sewing up a pattern to have it done.  

And then I started my first project for 2014 ~ A new Alma.  I sewed this up before and like the shirt a lot but it still has some minor fit issues.  Instead of tweaking my already traced pattern, I got it in my head to start over from scratch.  I brought out my two Nancy fitting books and started.

Looking at your body, measurements, and fit, is no easy matter.  It is hard to address those extra inches, lines, and bumps.  I re-took my measurements; somehow I gained an inch in the bust - I don't know how but I won't complain. :)

• My new measurements 37-29-44
• I'm 5'7" in height
• I definitely have the genetic pear shape that runs throughout the women on both sides of my family

I know I have square shoulders so that wasn't a shock; however, when taking my waist to hip measurement I realized I need to add an extra inch to patterns here.  Typically patterns are made for a waist to hip measurement of 9", mine is 10".

With my trusty measurements in hand along with my Nancy Book and began the massive alterations to the Alma.  Nancy suggests taking your measurements from basically armpit to armpit and using that as your "right size". I came in at 12.5" which puts me in a US 8 for my top.  This will ensure the correct fit through the shoulders and neck area - the hardest place to alter. This will also prevent that terrible neck gaping I hate so much (suggesting incorrect size to fit bust, not shoulders).  Now I need to compare my measurements to the size 8 measurements on the pattern envelope.

	Me	Pattern	Change needed
bust	37	34.5	+2.5
waist	29	28.5	+0.5
hip	44	40.5	+3.5
back waist	13.5	14	-0.5

The back waist indicates my swayback issues. Each "change needed" is divided by 4

Starting with the back piece I went in Nancy's order.
1. Hem (added 1" in length at waistline indicated by my waist to hip measurement)
2. Swayback -took out 1/2"
3. Square Shoulder Adjustment
4. Full Bust Adjustment of 1/2"
5. Waist increase of 1/8"
6. Hip increase of 3/4"

Seriously this took me like 1.5 hours to trace and correct each part individually on the back piece alone. Sigh. I was exhausted.  Then I went to the front which went faster at just an hour.  I didn't have the swayback for the front but had to adjust the bust dart and move the vertical darts down an inch front and back.  I traced my facings off the changed pieces.  Then I shortened/flattened the sleeve cap by an inch. Joy has an excellent tutorial on this.  I didn't want to ease in so much this time on the sleeve and also didn't want the gathers.

Now it is muslin time.  With all these changes I definitely want to do a muslin.  I excitedly sewed up the muslin and .... FAIL!  Why am I such a perfectionist? Why did I start this from scratch? The muslin speaks for itself:

URG. Madness.  The bad: sleeve shoulder is WAY too tight. There is a ton of fabric poof under my armpit.  The "armpit" of the shirt is nowhere near my armpit.  Poof under bust doesn't show my waist definition.  Poof in the back above the swayback.  The good? The shoulder width fits nicely, the hip area has more ease so it fits better than my last one.

This took any sewing mojo I had and squashed it.  Seriously, my other Alma fit better and all I did was size down to an 8 and square shoulder adjust it.

What I've learned:

• overfitting a pattern is bad
• If something fits well, don't try to re-do it 
• stop being such a perfectionist!
• pattern ease is not my friend; I like less ease in most my clothes

And now I've spent 3 days fiddling with this with no finished garment to show for it. Time to wallow in some chocolate and move on to the next project.

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~