Post the Fourth: Dittoing For Dummies

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Pair of jeans pinned to muslin
It's me. I'm the dummy.

 Okay, last time you were promised some sewing and now...I get to disappoint you. WAIT, NO! IT'S JUST A LITTLE BIT. Let me back up and explain.

 Originally the plan was to ditto an old pair of pants. Still in good shape, they fit me really well and if you're at all familiar with pants you know that's something of an uncommon thing. One might even go so far as to say it might even be prudent to make a master pattern of these pants, so as to make adjustments on any and all future slacks, jeans, capri pants, shorts, and so on.

 But notice I said "still in good shape." As in, totally not ripping up a perfectly good piece of clothing for the sake of cosplay. That's a stupid waste of money (--and time. Seam ripping is the worst.) Which is totally do-able, as this video shows:

 How to Copy a Pair of Pants (Get yourself a sandwich and buckle up, folks. This video is nearly two hours long.)

 Sssssoooo...I've cloned things like shirts and jackets before without disassembling the original, but not pants. Pants are a different creature entirely. Getting a good fit requires fairly precise measurements and a healthy bit of "fiddling" besides. And no matter how well I tried to transfer the pattern, it...was just turning into this vaguely pants-shaped blob. Even taking into account that this pattern would be transferred over to a muslin for further fitting, it was extremely clear that this would be a mountain of work just to get this looking vaguely decent.

 THIS MADE ME SO DAMN MAD.

Granted, there is an excess of things to infuriate one nowadays and--to be sure--this is at the rock bottom of that list. But this is a thing I actually have control over! One hundred percent control! I can make this work. I have to make this work! If I just--

 --This is flipping stupid. Just be an adult, buy a pattern, and go from there. Also, maybe don't throw your pincushion in rage. Don't know about you, but we have carpet over here and I'm pretty sure there's now an errant pin half-buried and waiting to strike.

Screenshot of McCall's Pattern M8473
Oh, hey, look. It's on sale too.

And you know what? In four hours I've made more progress than in the two weeks I spent kicking myself. So there's your lesson folks. Sometimes half the battle is figuring out when to change gears when something isn't working. Anyway, leaving up the link to the lesson on how to copy pants. It's really good and maybe someone else can get more use out of it than me.

 Alright. Back on track. So, if you've never bought a fashion pattern online before they usually give you the option of buying either the physical tissue paper pattern or just the pdf copies. Either is fine but I'm going to be real with the lot of you: I am incapable of folding up the tissue paper so that it fits correctly in it's sleeve for storage. Every time it ends up looking like mad rat got loose and tried to make a nest in the bottom of the sewing shelf.

So I'm going the pdf route. 

printed out pattern that has been taped together
Also, I love puzzles. Especially puzzles that take up half the living room floor.

This part is pretty straightforward. Print out pattern. Cuss at the printer. Print out rest of pattern. Tape pages together. Shoo cat off of pattern. Cut out the pieces you need according to the size guidelines the pattern gives you.

Cut out pattern where the size lines merge uncomfortably close
Or as close as you can manage, in some cases.

Next comes checking the fit. Pants being tricky to do this with. Basically you have to tape the front and back pieces together, put them on, and then just keep tweaking things until you get it right. Waist too tight? Add length to both front and back of the upper side seams. Crotch length too long? Shorten the front and back pieces along the printed guidelines. Is the crotch smiling? Let out the inseam a bit. Is the crotch frowning? Take in the inseam.

pattern diagram showing how to fix frowns in a pants pattern
No, I'm not making this up.


Once that's all finagled, you can finally start cutting the actual fabric. For my purposes I'm going to use the paper pattern to check the general fit, then copy that over to some muslin for fine tuning. Muslin being a dirt cheap fabric that'll behave much like the corduroy. Or at least more like the corduroy than the paper.

Next Time: Bits and bobs! Jingly-janglies!

Material Directory:
M8473 McCall's Sewing Pattern Misses' Pants by Melissa Watson: Simplicity.com
Muslin: Joann Fabric

Current background music: Chuck Johnson. "Teleos." Sun Glories.

Time until deadline:  6 months, 0 weeks









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