TNT Files: The Quest for Pants That Fit

Or trousers, for the British persuasion.

Before getting into a somewhat photo heavy post I thought I'd share a life update, because a lot has happened. For one, the 3rd anniversary of Mom's passing was on the first and eight days later was her birthday. Right before all this my husband's job was unexpectedly and with no warning, terminated. Georgia is an at-will state so they didn't need a reason to do so.  Later we found out there was a management shift (rumors also of selling the company) and honestly he has so much stress lifted off his shoulders. With unemployment we are still above water but now I can't stress shop for fabric. I mean, I got plenty, TOTALLY stocked up but.. but...  Leh Sigh.  And not so much bad but funny, my Aunts have started reading my blog and I got several tips on how to improve my grammar. For all of you Grammar Enforcers, I will do my best to use it's instead of its,  I promise.  However, I'm still going to do two spaces at the end of a sentence BECAUSE THAT IS THE PROPER WAY.


Ok, on to the actual sewing portion of this program. Remember back in January when I said I had a goal of turning more patterns into TNT's (tried-and-true) that could be remade many times? Well, I've been trying to work on that but its been a snail's pace.  The biggest gap in my wardrobe and sewing repertoire is woven pants for work and Thurlows were at the top of the list. And I've been seriously dragging my feet on this project because fitting pants is something I am not yet good at and well, it is a tedious amount of work. I've become accustomed to the quick fix knits can bring me. But I finally kicked my metaphorical ass in gear and started.  First I did the largest size straight out of the package.

This is what they looked like. Poor cell phone photos but its good enough to relay informations.

So these look like they fit but the problem here is that they are skin tight. I CANNOT sit down in these.  And they are hugely long.  Sewaholic says they draft for the average 5'6" but I'm not so sure. Granted, proportionally speaking my torso is long and legs are short. And my waist is high by comparison.

From the side can you see how the seam is straining forward? That would be my full front thighs and ample booty. 

Ah, now the "smiles" under my butt saying I need more room there. Again I know this LOOKS like it fits by the back seam is 1/4 inch right now. I squatted down after these photos and it went RIIIPPPPP. Not a good thing. So here's the first changes I made.

Oh, man, I didn't annotate the lengthening of the posterior inner thigh. That is that v-shaped slice you see with the washer on top. That was for my second muslin.  The scooped out crotch is for the perky booty bits.  Sorry, I failed to get second muslin fitting photos.

I made this modification where instead of two different front pattern pieces I have one with the fly flap so I can do the flat fly insertion method found here. I highly recommend this method and this modification because it will make your life 10 time easier. Seriously!  I found the link through Erica B, and of course it's from Threads Magazine.

This was done for the second muslin, then elongated a bit for the third one. It certainly helped but I still had false smiles.  I finally stumbled upon a fix for that, which I outline below.

The High Hip Curve Adjustment:

This is actually a new adjustment for me, I kept looking at the fitting photos and thinking that this can't be more inner thigh/crotch curve room because at this point I can basically squat in these without much worry (my litmus test for wearing in public safely). Pants Fit for Real People did not cover this anywhere and I finally found the closest match in Fitting and Pattern Alterations textbook. The high hip curve. I tried to annotate as best I could on how I did this change.  Hence the horribly embarrassing fitting photos. Seriously, the things I do for my hobby!

This photo also points out that my right hip is a bit higher than my left. I think I may have to do a left and right side for my pants some time in the future to adjust for the unevenness. For now, I'm ok with it. Also noticeable here from my first muslin is that I've shortened the legs, looking at this I need to shorten it some more.

Now, this is done below the slashed pocket line. Had I been thinking I would have tried to diagram how that part worked. This is how it works if you have not slash pockets in the front.  It took me a few moments of mental gymnastics to work it out to make front and back even with each other. You may end up taking the waist in just a smidgen because it should sit just above the hip curve now.


So, I'm hoping to cut out a wearable pair today, possibly get it sewn up but we will see!  I cut out a couple things destined for gifts. 

Kitschy Coo Camino Cap Duo!

we're looking fierce today

Hey, Psst. You. YES YOU. Do you know what this is? If you guessed the latest pattern from Kitschy Coo then you would be correct! This latest addition to her pattern collection is purrrrfect! I was so happy I got to test from ground zero on this one. Its such a cute and sassy design wrapped up together.

The Camino Cap is a downloadable PDF (-->GET IT HERE<--) that can be made up as both a shirt and a dress. There's the contrast yoke or one piece, and it comes down and covers the shoulders very nicely. This is especially good for those of us in a work place that has two settings: beer cooler or meat locker. In any case, I made an almost maxi length for me, and I confess, did it to completely rip off Katie's wonderful version. I lengthened at the "lengthen here" line and at the bottom. But since I made Felicity one as well, I didn't have enough to reach all the way to the floor. Normally I would wear high heals but soft ground, nope.

Mama Cat and her Kitten

Yes, you read that correctly. Mother/daughter outfits. She was gracious enough to wear hers with me for photos. I'm in size eight, she's in size 1. I had to shorten the bodice for Felicity by about 2 inches, the waist is a bit low and its large at the high bust but that's ok, room to grow!

Spot the belt. GET IT? Hahahaha, I kill me.

This is the husband's favorite, cause I'm smiling.

Check it out, I didn't even need to do a sway back adjustment!

Lawd that girl, she's getting her red belt this Saturday, btw, WATCH OUT BOYS!

I love the little dip in the back, makes for a lovely show of the nap of the neck. Kitschy Coo has THE BEST necklines.

Its like looking in the mirror sometimes.

This is me basking in the glory that is this dress, and/or contemplating how many more I want to make. OH, I have even told you the BEST THING about all the Kitschy Coo patterns. They are made from the same block so most of the pieces are interchangeable. I've had several hacks stewing about and tested, and I want to make some tutorials. Maybe when the kids are visiting relatives with their Grandmother later this month.

That's all for now!

New Toys and Past Lessons Remembered

I bought a new sewing machine!  Or rather, I financed a new sewing machine. I'm excited either way because I looked at my numbers before taking the plunge. This ain't my first rodeo going down this road, you see.

Let me back up a second though and give you some photos. I finally decided to go with this one after pondering it for some time because of Caroline's one year review. Its a Janome 8900 that I bought from Ashby Sewing during their annual Sewing Expo sale. If you live in the Atlanta area I HIGHLY recommend them, especially for getting your machines serviced. The guy that does the work is recognized nationally for his expertise.

At this time I don't have a special table that the machine sets into, this is one that husband and brother in law built for me. Its very sturdy, just like this machine. Full speed and everything in the sun room vibrates, but you can barely hear it, which means I can sew when my husband works from home. SCORE! I decided to not install the knee lever because I'm more likely to injure myself on it than find it useful. For whatever reason my hips are always larger than I think they are, come to think of it so are my bewbs. I run both into door frames ALL THE TIME.

Stop laughing.

So as you can see this thing is huge. Lots of stitches, lots of carriage space, and I even got the extra spool holder for my larger thread spools.

One of my more favorite features, slots for the most used feet! The tension is automatic but has an override button and there's a walking foot in the storage container at the bottom (not pictured) along with bobbin storage and even more feet. When I was checking out they asked if I needed more bobbins.

"How many are in a package" I asked.
"Ten" she said.
"I'll need two then" I said
"What in the world are you sewing!!" she exclaimed.

Apparently quilters don't switch bobbins out that often. I know I need a black, red, and blue wound at all times, and really several other colors. Or two of one color if I'm working on something with lots of stitching. I don't know about you but I hate stopping to wind a bobbin, so lots of bobbins it is! Oh, and it takes standard needles so I didn't have to rush out to buy more. In any case, I love this machine to bits.

But lets go back to about this not being my first rodeo when it comes to financing. We bought our house back in 2002 before the prices skyrocketed but the regulations for financing had begun to loosen up. This was also before the bottom dropped out of the tech industry when outsourcing became the norm. I had done a lot of research and when we chose the house we chose one that we could pay on one salary, despite it being a tiny house. This turned out to be a decision that saved our asses. Even so, what happened to many in 2008 happened to us in 2004. One or both of us were out of a job at any given time for several years.  During that time I was staring down the long road of possible foreclosure and lots and lots of credit debt. We did the credit consolidation, we liquidated all our retirement funds (what little there was), we had to turn to friends and family. This was a time of hardship for us but we made it through. A decade later we both have steady jobs (queue superstitious knocking on wood) and our credit has been repaired. We have, on several occasions, used the X number of months no interest financing. These are great deals, and how I financed my new sewing machine. THE TRICK, however, is to be absolutely certain you are never late on your payment, because then they charge you an obscene amount of interest. And the laws being what they are, they will then share that information with all the other credit companies and they will jack your interest based on that one card. And if you overpay it goes toward principle, not the next month's payment.

Its a racket.  Its a racket I would not gamble with unless very certain I could do the monthly payment on time. When I financed this through Ashby they made sure to tell me this all up front before I sign the documents, which I thought was amazing. Most places don't, but I already knew because, well.. been there, done that.

I know that was long winded and maybe a bit off topic but I believe in sharing knowledge, be it how to do an FBA or how to keep from getting scheistered by credit companies. Got any nuggets of wisdom to share?

2013 - A Review

I've been meaning to write a year-end post for weeks now but I never had both time and energy at the same time. And since I tend to be contrary I'm only going to kinda follow the format for this. There's been a lot of things on my mind, things I haven't quite figured out how to share. I lost my stride in blogging this year because I found I didn't have the energy for the type of photography I felt I needed to keep up, which made Carolyn of "Diary of a Sewing Fanatic" post so very timely. Most of the time all I have of my makes are selfies on instagram. Speaking of, she follows me on Instagram and I'm always psyched when she comments. I love her corporate style of sewing, I tend to lean that way too but I have more artistic leeway being in the IT world. So put her on my Inspiration list.

Another of my early inspirations rose from the ashes like a phoenix and gave us this post. I can't tell you how much I've missed Miss Snug Bug and her ingenious writing. Even now while she goes through one of life's tougher lemons. This gives me one more person to visit in Nashville which I hope to do this year.

And there are so many more that have become special to me. Oona and Tanit-Isis have been there since the beginning cheering me on. The last year I started Twitter and Instagram and the sewcialists were born and through that endeavor I now have Leila, Katie, Gillian, Heather B, and Joost, just to name a few. Much like the friends I made years ago through the Neil Gaiman fans I found another wonderful little corner of the Internet that is full of beautiful people in thoughts and actions.

Speaking of tough lemons (I know, bad segue here, just go with my stream of thought, k?), 2013 was all about getting myself back together. I know I did a video blog about chronic pain and depression and your response was so unexpected and supportive. These things are slowly getting better and more manageable,
setting hard boundaries of what I can and cannot do and expectations has helped a lot. I've had to learn to say no even when its someone I love to bits. I've lost friends, reconnected with lost ones, and made new ones, and have the sort of steadfast understanding relationships that weather all storms. I'm watching in amazement as my children grow into adults, I cringe as they make mistakes, I get angry, I laugh, I cry, I sigh in exasperation, but most of all I just love them.

And my husband, who is always there, I love you.

When it comes to sewing this year I didn't have a very high output but just about everything I made and loved was something that was a challenge. I made a button down blouse, a cropped jacket, a shirt waist, plackets, hacked patterns into something I want, and a coat!  And lots of other quick projects that I never got around to officially blogging, so for the interlude of this post I will deluge you with selfies.

Wow, that was a lot. 12 months worth of photos, and not all of them the most flattering. I can see where I started to lose weight when I had to take gluten out of my diet and then gain it back after a series of steroid injections into my spine, that was kind of a blow to my confidence. But, its still forward. I started walking again, and yoga and my basic core strengthening exercises. The key is to not give up.

And you can see the evolution of my hair color.

In this coming year I want to sew more from my stash. I want to make jeans, a trench coat, twin set suit, a ball gown, and a pants suit (lightly tailored). I'm sure there will be easy projects in between, and of course, sewing for the kids.

I also want to work on more resources for the sewcialists.org website. And meet some in real life. I have a cruise in May for a close friend's wedding. We're all looking forward to it.

And I'm looking forward to getting to know you better and I have so many thoughts and ideas to share with you. Life is rarely predictable or easy but at least its never boring. All of time and space is just behind this door, who wants to come along for the ride?