Sewing Pants for Women...The Three-Headed Dragon of Pants Construction, Part 11

Continuing with the Sewing Pants for Women by Else Tryoler.  Today, will we talk about sewing instructions for perfect fit:

With your trusty needle for a lance, you must slay this awesome dragon!  Use this chapter for a shield!  Know thy pants sag and bag and won't sit down and half the battle is won.  The other half can simply to avoided.

Pants were originally designed for men, by men.  In attempting to fit them to malady's more diminutive waist and rococo hips, the pattern-makers applied what know they had --- all of which had worked for men -- and what usually happened?  This!  Pants that bagged in front!  The center front seam took off like a ski jump --- bias all the way!  Figure 32 illustrates such a seam in action.  Its only possible use is to fit the figure beside it!  Pants hang from the waist, just like a tailored skirt.  Try taking a straight skirt pattern and changing the front seam to a bias.  What happens?  The skirt would pouch out in front like a cow-catcher, wouldn't it?  That is exactly what pants do when their center front seam is cut on the bias.  The evidence appears as baggy wrinkles across the crotch.  The fault lies in the design of the pattern itself; there is no cure for it.  If you already own such a pair of pants, look for another brand of pants.

Pants that sag in back

The same principle holds true here.  If the center back is cut on a distinct bias --- and you are not --- you are in for a bad case of the sags!  (See Figure 33)  It is not a question of too much length in the back seam.  It cannot be cured by "taking a little tuck across the seat".  Such a remedy would be about as effective as giving aspirin to a drowning man.  So it is with a bias-cut seat seam.  Alter, adjust, take tucks, let in, and let out all you want, but nothing is going to change the basic situation.  A bias-cut seat seam sags because it is  bias-cut, and there is nothing you can do about it.  It you are chagrined owner of pants of this description, throw a coat on over them, and dash out for another pair.

Pants that won't sit down

Perhaps you know the ones we are talking about.  When you sit down, they pull down in the back.  The effect ranges all the way from discomfort when sitting to a general public announcement of what you wear beneath those back-sliding pants.

What do do about it?  Well, you can always balance yourself on the end of your spine, like a board propped in the corner, for there is no handy relief for your distress.  The fault again is in the construction of the pattern:  the old devil, bias back seam, is with us again.

Think of it this way.  Picture the seat curve of your pattern as a contour chair.  Could you sit in it comfortably, with suitably erect posture, in no danger of sliding off?

In Figure 34, the broken line represents the back center seam of the pair of pants with sitting room; the sold line shows a bias seam guaranteed to keep you in misery for the life of the pants.  The distance between the two is your margin for composed sitting.  The solid-line bias seam, forced to conform to the dotted-line straight seam when you sit down, pulls your pants down in back exactly the distance between the two.  Look for pants construction with a seat seam shaped like a dotted line, or put the shape in as shown in Figure 34.  You will most likely have to add to the side seam.

Recognizing a well-constructed pattern

Now that you know all about the wrong sort of construction, just what do you look for to assure no-bag, no-sag, sitting-down pants?

A good pattern has a fairly straight up-and-down center seam in both front and back.  Remember that pants hang from the waist just like a slim, tailored skirt.  The center seams must be straight or the skirt will flare: the center seams of pants must be straight or they will bag.  There will be a tiny bit of bias to a well-constructed pattern, just enough to accommodate the human figure, but never enough to condemn you to eternal bagginess sagginess ad miserable sitting.  You should be able to sit on the seat curve without sliding off!

Compare Figure 35 and Figure 36.  In Figure 35 you see a well-constructed pattern.  See how the hips curve to accommodate a woman's shape.  Notice that the center seams are virtually straight up and down.  In the poor construction in Figure 36 the side seams at the hip-line are quite straight --- and the center seams are cut on the bias.  Here is what happened; the curve was taken off the hips and put in the center crotch seams.  There is probably the same amount of room in the two patterns, but it is in the wrong place!  The Good Lord put your hips where they are --- and that is where the curve must be.