Monday, January 17, 2011

Trousers for 2011 - the muslin

I must admit that I was optimistic when I measured the front and back crotch lengths of my Burda 06/10 trousers against my trousers sloper that I made in pattern making class. They matched exactly. This muslin has been cut straight from the pattern and I'm reasonably happy with the fit. I have to add a hem allowance (I changed the original curved hemline from the pattern) and take the upper thighs in a little.
Can you see any other adjustments? This is my first time so your help would be appreciated.
PS. Do you iron your muslin fabric before you cut? I can't shed all my bad habits can I?
I'm also wearing my new gun metal grey t-shirt that I've hardly taken off since it was finished. Pity it's not in the photo as it doesn't warrant a separate post.

10 comments:

  1. Hi Gail. You definitely need to iron your muslin for a start, otherwise your efforts will be wasted.

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  2. Yes as velowsewer said, you need to iron as you can't tell what wrinkles are what for examples is that a a wrinkle or excess fabric under your derriere?. I'm no expert as you can tell from my blog, however the Pants for Real People book is a great reference book.

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  3. Thanks, the horizontal lines are wrinkles/creases, the vertical is excess fabric.

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  4. Yes you should iron your muslin. More so if you didn't pre-shrink because the minute you press a seam the muslin will shrink. Ironing with lots of steam will help pre-shrink it as well as remove wrinkles.

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  5. It will be easier to see what is going on if you iron the muslin. But generally it's looking like a pretty good fit to me.

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  6. One more vote here for pressing the muslin. Looking good, though. Seems to me that you should scoop out a little more on the CB seam, and that should take care of the slight bagginess on your derriere.

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  7. It's perfect! I think you can cut the pants in real fabric, the settings you mentioned are great, I'll be looking forward for them.

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  8. I'm thinking that the photo looks like the pants could do with some extra at the calves - depends on whether or not you think they "cling" to the calves a little? So maybe take more out from the back calf area - and leave the front. It looks baggy below the butt so could do with a pleat taken in on the back piece from hem to waist - in the centre of the pattern piece - hard to explain here, but as Sharon said - the Palmer Pletsch book explains that - or even their "Perfect Pants" patterns will have that adjustment line printed on the pattern piece.

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  9. You're one step ahead of me already as you actually go to the trouble of making a muslin... I never bother, or I make it in material that I can wear rather than using plain calico, as I hate throwing wearable clothing out! I've just visited here after quite a while not checking in, you've done some really great work, the trench dress looks so neat and tidy and very versatile!

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  10. As others have mentioned, I think there is a bit of extra room in the back that could be taken out, but other than that, it looks really good. Graining (checking to make sure the lengthwise and crosswise threads are at 90 degrees to each other) and pressing the muslin makes it much easier to see any fit problems. When you do this, you can see how the fabric hangs more accurately and can identify any problem areas.

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