Sunday, April 25, 2010

Miscellaneous Thoughts

I'm working on the altered TNT capris and hope to have them finished later tonight. In the meantime, I'm taking a little break and thought I'd share some photos and ramblings about the process.

The white pattern is my TNT. The brown tissue is the CC "jeans." Look at that front crotch curve. It's huge. And look at how far downward it slopes. Jeans don't look like that.



If they do, you end up with socks in the crotch, like this (which really isn't showing you how truly bad it is because I have them pulled up really high):



Here's the CC back pocket, over mine. Mine has 1/2" seam allowances, the CC has 5/8" so there's even more of a difference than first seems. Ladies with large patooties are not flattered by skinny little pockets on their backsides. It only points out how much "space" there is on either side of the skinny pocket. All pattern pieces need to be in scale to body wearing them — it's not one-size-fits-all.



Here's the back yoke piece. Odd, isn't it? On pants with a back yoke, you wouldn't just add to the center/top of the yoke like this to get extra length to cover a larger backside. When drafting a pattern, you would add the extra length to a typical darted pants block and then create the yoke so you can have jeans that look like everyone else's, instead of this weirdness. You'd alter an existing pattern the same way too (below the yoke).



So after my fuming about this stupid pattern wore off, I altered my TNT for more tummy room, which is the only place I needed to adjust it. But instead of tracing off the whole front pattern, I just traced the upper section and attached it to the TNT. This gives me a "fold down" piece which keeps the original pattern intact, but incorporates the new spread for tummy room. The spread also keeps the sideseams intact so they still match the back in shape/length. Genius, eh? Nah, it's just the cheap and easy way. ;-)





Here's the "herd" in action. I can't tell you how absolutely luxurious it is to have a dedicated topstitching machine - the Viking 6010. It's as good as the dedicated coverstitch machine peeking out on the right. Once I get a new longer table/countertop so I can spread out more, it will be even more decadent. Oh, and $23 is what I ended up paying for this machine after the seller compensated for the shipping damage. That's almost free!

Can't you see the family resemblance with her next to her big sisters? ;-)



Here's a couple samples of the real topstitching in action (vs. the samples I showed earlier).





Now back to the sewing room!

13 comments:

  1. bad bad pattern! But great topstitching. better than my Viking Platinum. You used the gutterman's toptstitching thread?
    Doesn't CC have a pattern drafting book that people actually like and recommend? That yoke is certainly strange looking.

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  2. Wow! There really is a huge difference! That yoke is weird. I was having a hard time picturing it. I'm jealous of all your machines!

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  3. Strange pattern, very strange!

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  4. That crotch curve is totally insane...thanks for the heads-up, I'll be avoiding that one! And I love the "herd." My herd is not so nicely arranged...they are tucked into every spare corner of the house.

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  5. (which really isn't showing you how truly bad it is because I have them pulled up really high):

    Okay thanks for a really good laugh! Glad you went back to your TNT pattern!!!

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  6. I'm never sure if it is the pattern or that my body shape doesn't conform to the mould..what woman over 40 does? I have gone into paroxyms of envy over that top stitching machine.

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  7. To quote Michael Kors from Project Runway, "That crotch is just insane." (CC's, not yours). Thanks for the indepth insight into this pattern.

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  8. Thanks for the review...it was very imformative for me. I've never made a pair of pants that fit and I wore..But I'm thinking of making a pattern out of a pair that fit me. You've given me inspiration. I too have a Viking and its the ONLY machine that goes through all the thicknesses of a pair of jeans...nice topstitching job!!

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  9. That crotch curve is so much like what I'd get with pattern drafting software each and every time. UGH, not pretty, for sure

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  10. oh. my. goodness. I am way jealous of your mad topstitching skills, seriously-my fly fronts never, NEVER EVER, look that good. That is just gorgeous.

    The CC pattern really is just weird-I didn't like the way they looked on the model in the picture either, so I never bothered with the pattern. I used to have a great jeans pattern but it disappeared at some point in one of our cajillion military moves. Sigh...

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  11. I always love seeing pattern comparisons, so thank you for posting them. That is quite a herd! My sewing machine and serger are only a couple. `-)

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  12. Thanks for the heads up. I have the CC pattern and will put it in its rightful place...the trash!

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  13. That front crotch curve reminds me of the first time I used an SB pants pattern. The front crotch was SO long! Baggy front galore--not a nice look. Eventually, I got the front fit just right, but originally it looked a lot like your photo.

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Thank you for each and every comment. I appreciate them all, but I have to be honest and let you know that I'm usually bad about answering questions. I hope you understand that there just isn't enough time in the day to do everything I want to do.

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