Clover Pants Muslin

3:25 PM by Forrest 5 Comments A⁺ a^-

aka, the time I showed an awkward picture of my butt to the world...
So, the good news is these are not as bad as I thought they would be. I read horror stories of other blogger's struggles to fit their Clovers, so I was relieved that these fit as well as they do. I made them with a black pointe from Fabricmart. I bought 6 yards so that I could use it for the muslin and the final pair. I had hoped to add the modifications from Sallie Oh's fabulous Clovers but I think this material is too thin for pockets and a fly zip, so I'm planning to finish out this pair as is, then make another with the pocket and fly modifications and thicker fabric.

Here's the front. The main problem I see is the baggy crotch. I also feel like it sits a little high on my waist (you can't really tell from the picture but it feels off) and there's obviously a lot of extra fabric in the shin-area.

The back actually fits pretty well, which is good, considering how much it hurt my brain to think about how to alter that area. Again, there's way too much fabric in the legs, which shouldn't be too hard to fix, but I'm not sure what to do about the diagonal lines around my hips... Any ideas?

So this is my solution so far for the front. I folded the waistband down about 1.5 inches, which makes it sit a lot better and fixes some of the bagginess. I need to inspect the Colette pants fitting cheat sheet to confirm how to transfer this alteration to the pattern (this is a crotch length alteration right?), and to figure out how to get rid of the rest of the bagginess. I also folded up the hem a few inches to approximate where I want them to hit on my legs. Looks so much better than the first picture doesn't it?

Hopefully the fixes needed for these pants will be as simple as they seem. Is there anything weird y'all see that I might be missing?

Happy Friday my loves! Hope your weekend is fabulous!

PS Remember you have until Thursday to enter my Sew Grateful pattern giveaway!

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House of Pinheiro

AUTHOR

February 10, 2012 at 3:58 PM delete

Great idea, looks much better already x

angie.a

February 10, 2012 at 6:47 PM delete

Pants have never been my forte... I think the diagonal wrinkles are supposed to be pointing at the "problem", but from that photo, it just looks to me like the side seam is too long over the hip (the back crotch seems very smooth, so obviously it's not too long there?)

Of course that probably means the opposite of what i said is the problem. :D I do think the front wrinkle is less an issue of length (other than you want it to sit lower) and more that it's pointing at your low hip level. Maybe you need a smidge more width there? I have no idea how that wills screw up everything else though.

Ok I'm terrible at this.

Renee

February 10, 2012 at 8:44 PM delete

To fix the back, try unpicking it between the leg and the waistband, starting an inch or two forward of the side seam (on the front of the pants), all the way round the back to near (in line with) where the diagonal wrinkle stops. Put the pants back on - you might need someone to help you with this part - and try to smooth out the fabric how you want it to sit and pin it in place to the waistband again. My gut feel is that you'll need to take fabric out at the side seam, under the waistband, and maybe adjust the dart a little too. Hope that helps :)

Shawnta

February 14, 2012 at 2:27 PM delete

Ok after fooling with mine my guess would be that you need to shorten the torso and possibly a small flat belly adjustment for the front. For the back I think you need to let out the inseam a bit right under the crotch and scoop a little out of the crotch depth. Once you shorten the torso of your front and back piece than that big line right above you hip should go away I think.
♥