A place for current and future students of trouser making, esp. those following the techniques and ideas of David Page Coffin, and the many examples in his multimedia workshop in a book/DVD package, Making Trousers, to gather for previews, announcements and discussion. Welcome!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Um, where's the fitting info?




An important point, probably not well-enough made yet:

My book covers only construction details, including many pocket, waistband, closure and other interior details and variations, and there's no fitting info in it at all. It starts with the assumption that you've got a well-fitting basic pant pattern already.

I know that many sewers still struggle with pant fitting, but I decided to leave fitting out of my work since it is so extensively covered in virtually all the other pants books out there, none of which go into construction to the extent I think necessary, and none of which offer a detailed look at the wide range of RTW and custom pant-making details, as I consider essential to well-informed results. If I'd included fitting, I'd never have had room for all the variations I wanted to include, and I'd have been merely repeating what other more expert fitting and pattern-drafting authorities have already well said!

If you've got any pants that already fit you well enough, stay tuned for my video on easily copying them.

No doubt many of you have already looked elsewhere for help with your pants-fitting questions, but I've heard only good things about the two fitting books I recommend and give links to in the widget at right: Don McCunn's pattern drafting book (and his online classes and Yahoo group about pattern making), and Pati Palmer's book on pants.

My own solution was simply to pay a local expert to help me come up with a fitting pants sloper, one-to-one and once-and-for-all, since I didn't want to be bogged down in fitting hassles; I just wanted to get busy with the fun part: making them! And as for writing about pants, what I wanted to do was cover all the stuff that I haven't seen elsewhere, not just rehash the basics.

If fitting remains the main thing you struggle with about making pants, sorry to disappoint! I hope you'll take a look at my book and DVD anyway!

And by all means feel free to post fitting questions or comments here, if you like. I may have an opinion or link that could help.

3 comments:

  1. Any news on the pattern copying video?

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  2. Hope to get it done next week; thanks for asking! I'm submitting it via Threadbangers, though, so it may not show up immediately.

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  3. Looking forward to both the video and the book/dvd!

    Thank you for making them.

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