Hot Patterns #1036
You may well ask ‘where have you been’ and ‘why haven’t you posted anything sewing related for so long’ but I do have a valid reason. A while ago I decided that I needed to be happy with my body and to make clothes that fitted that body well.
So I have decided I need some jeans and I have been doing some tissue fitting of the Hot Patterns Weekender Jeans.
A fellow sewer (in blog land) SDBev has been doing a lot of experimenting with making pants and shorts and I have been following along her fitting trials. She has been extremely generous in her detailed blogging of getting pants to fit and how she has gone about it, the patterns used and adjustments she has tried. It has inspired me to just get going with making my pants and to stop procrastinating and waiting for a perfect body. Even I don’t always think it of myself, I’m a great believer that there is a ‘style’ for every one regardless of height or weight.
Patricia from Perfect Sew and Fit runs a website where for a small monthly fee of $4.95 US you have access to her fitting knowledge to help you fit your own tissue pattern. She teaches the Palmer/Pletsch method of tissue fitting and once you have bought the correctly sized pattern you cut it out, or trace it off on tissue paper, pin the seams and fit it on your body. Then you take a photo, front, back and side and post it in your own private fitting room on the forum where Patricia will assess your photos and write back, telling you what changes to make to the tissue. You then do the adjustment, take more photos and so on, until you have a good-looking tissue! Having a copy of Fit for Real People on hand is extremely helpful and something that Patricia does suggest. It’s actually not that easy to fit yourself, having a full-length mirror would help and a fitting buddy would be even better. I have been doing some tissue fitting with my mum, that’s been really fun and a learning process for both of us.
But now the time has come now to cut out my pattern in fabric. So …. to refresh your memory of Hot Patterns 1036 …
Do my pattern pieces look anything like the original pattern? Absolutely not at all! Well, perhaps the front does a little but the back crotch does not.
My fabric was bought from an Australian seller on Ebay and is a medium weight dark blue denim with no stretch. I read something written by a sewing teacher once, when using denim, to wash the fabric 5 times. 3 times in hot water by itself and then put in with loads of washing and wash another couple of times.
All cut out ….
And for a little bit of colour inside my pants, pocket linings and such …
Patrica suggests cutting extra wide seam allowances (1 inch) and to pin the seams together, trying on the pants to check fitting and then to sew. You still take photos, as with the tissue fitting, and she will check and advise you on any changes needed before you commit to sewing.
I shall not procrastinate, I shall not procrastinate, I shall no procrastinate … I will get these pants made.
