Some women experience horizontal fullness or bagging directly beneath their tummy and just before the crotch curve begins. Once you’ve sewn your test muslin for your pants, if this is occurring, you will find one suggestion for a minor tune-up on page 12 (#1) of the Pants Kit Instruction Book. This may be a satisfactory refinement for you.
Another alternative is to remove this fold of fabric at CF. Follow these directions:
1.
To determine how much you need to remove, pinch out the fabric in a
tiny fold. If you pinch out ¼” (.6cm), this will mean that you will be
totally removing ½” (1.3cm).
Close-up of dart/tuck wedge from CF going to nothing at the side seams.
2. Mark this level location on CF of the crotch seam. Draw a perpendicular line (to the grainline) over to the side seam. Mark point A and B.
3.
Cut from CF to side seam, leaving a small hinge of paper at the side
seam. This will act as a pivot point. Secure the pivot point with
plastic tape.
4.
Overlap the CF seam the amount you require, thereby creating a small
horizontal dart or tuck which begins at CF and goes to nothing at the
side seam.
7. Cut/remove this narrow wedge and tape it back in place at the side seam waist edge. This will maintain the correct waist circumference and true the side seam shape so that it will sew in the same curve to the back side seam.
8. Redraw and reposition the front hip-fitting dart to best suit your body contours.
This process will shorten the CF crotch length by the amount of the dart/tuck. Be aware that you may need to add this amount on to the back crotch length so that you maintain your overall crotch length requirement.
Sorry, but what is a CF? I'm not new to sewing, but it's been quite a while since I did any serious sewing. Thanks for your help.
ReplyDeleteCF stands for Center Front. CB stands for Center Back.
ReplyDeleteKindly,
Glenda
I have several pairs of pants that have this issue that are store-bought. Any suggestions or good tutorials for altering them? I already do the side-seam alter at the waist at times to bring in the waist to fit better, so I can handle taking the side seams out and in just fine - even with a waist band.
ReplyDeleteIf they are ready-to-wear, the only thing you can really do at this point is remove the waistband (if they have one) and very gently and gradually lift up CF to pull some of this excess length out. This obviously is not ideal. It's always best to make the change initially to the pattern.
ReplyDeleteKindly,
Glenda
Hi Glenda! How do you know how much of the CF crotch length to pinch out and how much needs to stay? How much of the poofing you get when you bend forward slightly is supposed to be there? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteCheryl
How much CF length and little bit of lengthwise ease you end up with is mostly up to you and your comfort level. Personal preference plays a big role in many refinements. What I might like and feel comfortable wearing may not be your preference. Obviously you don't want CF to be droopy. Pin it out as I show in the photo - then baste it out. Walk around - sit down - just see how it feels and looks on your body. Go from there. You're the only one that needs to be pleased. But do keep in mind, that you need to make a happy compromise between standing and sitting and the feel of the pants. Unless you have pants just for sitting and pants just for standing (like actresses often do), you'll need this compromise.
DeleteKindly,
Glenda...the Good Stitch!
Thank you for that suggestion. I will give that a try. I have been at a total loss on how a woven pair of pants should fit in the front (since the only woven pants I own are jeans). When I sit down, should I expect the back waistband drop a bit or should it stay put?
ReplyDeleteCheryl
Whether the back drops or not will depend on how tight your pants are and what length you have for the back crotch length. The bigger your backside, the more they will likely pull down from the waist. The more length you add to the CB crotch length will definitely give you appropriate length for sitting and not pull down, but when standing, the crotch length will likely droop. Once again, it's a happy compromise - something that is comfortable when sitting and that won't droop too much when standing. Also, if sewing from knits, you need less lengthwise ease. But if working with a totally non-forgiving (non stretchy woven), you'll no doubt need more crotch length for comfort when sitting and so they don't pull down too much...but not too much that they bag when standing. Sorry there are no hard & fast rules. Again, it's going to boil down to personal preference.
DeleteKindly,
Glenda...the Good Stitch!
Hi Glenda,
ReplyDeleteI just ordered the pant kit! Super excited. I wanted to ask you a question about this post though.
You explain how to remove the bulky-ness from the front by removing some fabric horizontally which will shorten your Cf seam. This makes sense to me and i did it and it works great. You say in the end that you might wanna add some length to the back seam to maintain the overall crotch length. Where exactly do you add that amount you took out from the front. Do you ad that to? to the top CB seam or to the bottom (crotch part) of the seam?? Thank you so so much
Great question. Sometimes it's simply not necessary to add anything more to CB because the issue only revolved around the front crotch curve and length. If your pants feel fine in the back then do nothing. But if there is any feeling of being too tight on the front thigh, then add a little extra length to the back crotch pt #2. If the crotch feels fine but they're too low at the waist, add at the waist edge.
Delete