Answering Comments

No sewing yet this weekend. I've been doing some painting. Trim that needed a second coat, some touch-ups, some trim that hadn't been touched yet. I may even get to the french doors in the family room that I've been avoiding for almost 2 years! And there's a few items in the mending pile in the sewing room that will need attention before I start another project. This afternoon is football playoffs so I'm pretty sure I won't be sewing today, but I can probably paint those doors while the games are on. But it's a long weekend so there's still tomorrow for sewing.

In the meantime, I thought I'd answer some comments before they stack up too much. And I'll plead again that if you are posting as "Anonymous," please sign a name just so I know who you are in order to distinguish your notes from others.

From Kris O:
I love your bags. My mom loves VB bags. What are your favorite sources for the pre-quilted fabric?

Thank you! I don't really have "favorite" sources since I don't make too many of these anymore. This particular fabric came from Fabric.com. They have a prequilted section on the website and with a little bit of looking through the other quilting cottons, you can find unquilted coordinates for the prequilted selections.

From Mia & Rose:
Yes, BurdaPlus does have archives. They are in the German pages, under "Archiv Sonderhefte" (extra/special issues archive).

Thank you, thank you!! I will be using this a LOT!

From Arielle:
I'm just discovering your post (was away on vacation) and I wonder if you could tell me the brands and sizes of your rulers? Especially the French Curve one.

The French curve is the Styling Design Ruler and I bought it from Nancy's Notions. I just recently bought another since I've really put some wear and tear on my original. I also have a Dritz clear, flexible plastic ruler (from Joann's), and the others are mainly clear quilting Olfa quilting rulers.

From Anonymous:
Is it possible to reduce the leg width by taking it out at the seams which run down the center back of each leg?

Yes. And in a perfect world, that's what I'd do. But since I had already cut the fabric and sewn/topstitched the center seams, I opted for the less painful sideseams.

From Marji:
Is this pair of pants the candidate to go with your most recent top?

Well, while they do match in color, I don't think they match in style. So, no. Still no pants (or hem) for the recent top.

From Izzie:
So, you achieved this fit with just the cut and slide at the knee and the tuck at the knee? No FED?

Correct, no FED. I haven't been using the FED for a while. Before this latest round with Minott, I was using wedges (slash/overlap or spread), like this.

From Designdreamer:
Now I'm not sure if they're full in the "inner part", (but my guess is yes,) but I KNOW they're full in the FRONT. Is there a different alteration for this?

There is. And it should be found in most good pants fitting books. But, truthfully, I don't know all the methods off the top of my head since I don't use them so I don't have any specific advice.

From Anonymous:
Do you plan on doing a review of the Minott books you bought? I have been looking to buy some good reference books but looking at some of the reviews on PR, It kind of puts me off.... I wondered if the books she is selling are just copies of earlier books or are different than earlier publications.

No, I don't plan to review any of the Minott books because I haven't really read them cover to cover. Well, without my eyes glazing over because the information is very disjointed and badly organized. Mostly, they are drafting books, although one is a convoluted (to me) method for altering commercial patterns. I think most of the information in these books can be found in better form in other sources. But there are the "wrinkle charts" which are good references for alterations and a few of the problems/solutions are not easily found elsewhere. So, I keep them around for that. But, really, that's only about 20 pages out of hundreds so unless you're shaped like me or want to draft patterns from scratch using her methods, then it's probably not a worthwhile purchase. And, yes, I think the books available on that website are indeed (legal) photocopies of previous publications.

From Anonymous:
I will also definitely get rid of both my Palmer Pletsch books. They do nothing for me. I purchased them because people raved. Maybe they raved because of the colourful illustrations, I don't know but I have never found them helpful or informative.

Hmmm. I'm sorry but I have to disagree here. I love the P/P books! Slash/spread is the method I use the most and these books cover all of that in great detail. They also have a lot of valuable fitting information, especially diagnosing the wrinkles. I don't think there is a more comprehensive or easy-to-understand fitting series, especially as a jumping-off point. While I may not now agree with every single solution, I do with the majority of them.

But different strokes and all that, and if you still want to get rid of them, I'm sure you'll have no trouble reselling the books.

And my favorite comment about my latest pants:
From Meg:
I think EVERYBODY feels that way about their bodies in January!
How true!! Thank you for the reality check! And yes, Meg, feel free to use "elastification". LOL!