Sailor Pants Drafting and Fitting - Part I

My parents arrived from overseas for a visit and since I have not seen them in a year, I am spending most of my free time with them (read: very little sewing). They will stay here a month but when you see your family so rarely, every day is precious. A funny thing, my DH took this picture of us at the airport and sent it from his phone to my email. He mistyped, though, and the title of his email read "Airport pigs" as opposed to "Airport pics!" I thought it was hilarious!

Anyway, I managed to draft a pant sloper, made a muslin and fitted it (somewhat).

This is a photo of the draft (front and back drafted on the same piece of paper) and of my drafting tools. As you can see, I am very low-tech!

I learned how to draft a trouser in 2005 in Chicago. The place I went to has a website (http://www.ewsacademy.org/) if you want to check it out. The website used to sell drafting tutorials but I am not sure if they still do. The guy who owns the school has a place in the South side of Chicago where he teaches groups of 6-7 people. He teaches everything as far as drafting and tailoring is concerned but I got pregnant and managed to finish only the trouser and the skirt drafts. I have drafted a few pairs of pants since (for both men and women), using the method I learned there, and it has been successful. I would love to learn how to draft a more fitted (jean-type fit) pants, though.

This is a picture of the front where there is a crotch problem that I have to figure out. The back I was quite happy with, did not take a picture of it though. I tried leting out the crotch seam next to where the folds appear and it helped but did not solve the issue. I am not sure quite how to proceed because it feels like i have enough width in the front (for a fitted pant, anyway). I have noticed though that this problem gets almost self-resolved by making the pant in something more substantial (weight-wise) than muslin. What do you think?

As far as the "sailor front, " so far these are my working pattern pieces, which were drafted after slashing the front where I would like the sailor detail to appear. The slash also takes care of shortening the front rise to where I would like it be (in th muslin it is too high for me, at least in the front).

The purpose of the first muslin I made was to get the fit right in the hips and thighs. I obviusly still have to work on the front crotch. I find that For me, K. King’s “The Trouser Draft” is a good reference for fitting trousers: http://www.kennethdking.com/httpwww.kennethdking.combook3.html#trouser

K. King is an extremely detailed, non-scholarly, visual, step-by-step writer, which appeals to me. He also explains the logic behind what he does which is also something I like. The book teaches you how to draft a trouser and that part I have not tested yet, however, I find the chapter on fitting the trouser extremely helpful. I used the fish-eye alteration to eliminate fabric from the back of my thigh under the buttocks. This method essentially asks you to pin out the excess fabric and then transfer this excess between the inseam and outseam.

I will be making a second muslin to incorporate the sailor front detail. This second time around, I will use some cheap mid-weight denim, instead of muslin, to get a better idea of the drape of the pant.

Meanwhile, since trouser fitting and sewing is a quite involved process and I want to spend time with my parents while they are here, I might make an easy top to feed my sewing habit :)