|
How To Migrate From Good Pants Patterns |
|
|
"These pants are as close to perfect as I will ever get!!!!!!!!!
And the most comfortable I have ever had. The crotch is fine,
actually everything is fine!!!!!! I am totally thrilled with
these. They hang beautifully F&B." -June
Cappola "Whoopee! Wow!!!! Hurray!!!!! and anything else that says "WOO WOO! ... FOR THE FIRST TIME I really have a pants sloper fit to my satisfaction. I used the others but was not "quite satisfied" but this new update of the pants is the GREATEST!!!!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!" - GloriaJean Grevenstuk This edition of the MPD newsletter will provide:
|
|
|
Perhaps the biggest change done with the release of My Pattern Designer 2.5 is how pants patterns are drafted. The options and fit are better than ever before. New styles are included, new pocket types are available, there is a contoured waistband for better fit at the waist and a fold-over waistband (far right photo below) for a trendy look. The new Complete Pants Designer tool provides even more adjustments, options, and enhancements. To get the best results from these new patterns, you should know what has changed and what you may need to do to your chart to make it work with these changes. This page talks about the changes. At the bottom is a link to the page that talks about your chart and how to optimize it for the new pants patterns. The custom fit pants patterns
produced by My Pattern Designer 2.5 were the result of 18+ years
of struggle, experiments, workshops, and feedback from thousands
of customers describing their bodies, charts, and the fit that
they get both from our custom pants patterns, but also from
ready-to-wear pants and pants produced by a seamstress or
tailor. MPD pants patterns were refined many times over those
years and they were able to produce better fitting pants for
most customers than any other source available. |
|
 Figure 1: Prior MPD Pants Pattern |
But, there was room for improvement. Some of our more advanced sewing enthusiasts and demanding fit-perfectionists had pointed out a variety of issues with their pants patterns that just could not be resolved fully using dart size and ease adjustments. The incredible diversity of body shapes and curves was just not fully accommodated by the drafting logic that MPD had been using. In January of this year, the MPD staff, design team, and testers began a massive, focused, totally dedicated overhaul of all pants patterns. The results of that can be subtle when you just look at the patterns themselves. You may not notice every change until you get your measurements adjusted (slight changes may be needed) and you have made a few pairs. Once your chart has been updated, you should find that your pants fit better, feel better, and look better, with fewer pulls, wrinkles, puckers, or crooked seams. Every bit of the pants patterns should fit better. |
|
So, let's see just what changed. Figure 1 here shows an average MPD pants pattern from before this recent change. It's not a bad pattern. It made pretty good pants. But, there were elements that were not quite what this customer preferred. |
|
|
|
What could be improved here? A. The waistline on this pattern is not too bad, but some with tilted waistlines would get wavy lines at the waist that did not produce a good straight seam when the darts were sewn up. And, the dart caps were sometimes too tall. B. The outseam hits the back abdomen measurement exactly. Looks good until you consider that when the darts are sewn closed, they will take up fabric, making these pants snugger at back ab than they should be. C. The outseam DOES NOT hit the target back hip measurement line. The slight bulge in the outseam here will make these pants loose at back hip. Possible wrinkle. D. The crotch curve dips below crotch depth slightly. This J-hook is more pronounced with some other charts and may not produce the desired fit here. Also, the crotch extension produced is longer than the specified crotch extension amount. The user asked for 3.88" and they actually got 4" or more. Not a lot, but not right. Crotch fit was less than it should have been. E. Loose at the thigh. This "collateral ease" occurs whenever the draft routines are unable to precisely hit the target measurement. F. More "collateral ease". G. The outseam is slightly concave here. And, the shaping of the outseam does not match the inseam shaping well enough. Pants leg may twist or wrinkle here. |
None of these particular pattern limitations or flaws could be
corrected with measurement changes, ease changes, or by
adjusting dart depth or width. To improve pants patterns and fit
in all of these areas takes 3 steps:
|
|
|
1. This is the pattern produced by MPD 2.5 using the same chart as the pattern above used. The crotch curve is not right and the next section will discuss why that is and what to do about it. But, every other aspect of the pattern is better. Inseam and outseam are better balanced. Front and back pants legs also closely match. There are no steep curves to either inseam or outseam, so sewing it will be easier and less prone to puckers. Most importantly, though, both the inseam and outseam manage to hit every target measurement very closely. The only ease in this pattern is the intentionally provided ease. The program provides default amounts of ease for waist, ab, hip, thigh, calf and ankle. The amounts used vary based on the intended use of the pants pattern. Stretch pants get negative ease. Form fitted pants for dance or athletic use get no ease. Dress pants get just enough ease to move around comfortably while maintaining a close fit. Casual pants have more ease and relaxed fit is for lounging pants or overall pants, with more room. You may change those specific ease amounts as you wish to adjust the fit to your own preferences at any of the key body fit locations. The new pants pattern inseam and outseam should now hit the key target amounts (crotch, waist, ab, hip, thigh, calf, and ankle) very accurately. Knee is only relevant on pants shorter than calf length. One minor oddity about this particular pattern is the shape of the waist darts. These darts are curved, to provide less gather at the back ab because the back ab is greater than back hip in this particular chart. Most will not get this dart shaping as it does not happen when back hip is greater than back ab. Figures 4 and 5 below show the front and back of the same
pants pattern. Note that the front versus back inseams are very
close in shape, making sewing them together work easier and
smoother, resulting in crisper, non-puckered seams. |
|
 Figure 4: Pants Pattern Front |
 Figure 5: Pants Pattern Back |
|
Click here to learn what changed in the pants pattern draft and Click here to learn more about upgrading to My Pattern Designer 2.5 Click here to learn more about The Complete Pants Designer. |
|
