Susie Bright

Susie’s Home Ec

>> Susie Bright is an amateur dressmaker and a professional writer.

She blogs at susiebright.com.

Lies, Damn Lies, and
Pant-Making Statistics

The best solution to the dilemma of ill-fitting pants is a skirt. If you’ve ever beheld a man in a kilt — and sighed over how handsome he looks — you’ve seen the evidence that men, as well as women, look better in something that doesn’t stuff their caboose into a sausage casing, or into a bifurcated tent held up with a belt.

But some of you aren’t satisfied. You’ve read a personal ad titled, “Stunner In Jeans,” and you can’t get that peachy image out of your mind. OK, I’ll give you three no-nonsense strategies:

1. Cheat — and learn valuable lessons
while you’re at it.

Order a custom pair of jeans and participate in the fitting. If you visit makeyourownjeans.com (a steal at $45), they’ll ask you for several crucial measurements: preferred waistline, full hip measurement, thigh, outer seam, inseam, front rise, back rise, and leg opening. They provide priceless photos of how to measure accurately — a sewing class in itself.

If you can make nonjudgmental measurements, you’ll get a pair of pants that make you look like a movie star. You’ll grok the essence of tailoring: that people look attractive in clothes that fit — and fit is based on accuracy, not wishful thinking.

2. Have a pajama party.

Make a pair of drawstring pants, in any kind of fabric that isn’t dead stiff. The fancy measurements are irrelevant. You’ll look chic and feel comfortable, in about two hours of sewing time.

My drawstring sensations have included pairs of Virgin of Guadalupe cotton, Elvis gold lamé, and silky Vargas Girls on parade. How do you avoid looking like you’ve crawled out of bed? By wearing a close-fitting shorter top, or a drapey longer one. India had the right idea from the beginning.

Here are some tips:

* Do not get a unisex pattern — they fail to fit either gender. The male and female crotch curves are distinct; it makes a difference.

* Cut out your accurate full-hip size. Don’t even look at the waist measurement, unless your waist is bigger than your ass.

* Before you insert the elastic/drawstring, pull the pants on — you’ll be swimming in them — and tie a long piece of skinny elastic exactly where you want them to sit. Mark that line with chalk all the way around, take them off, then cut off 2" above your line. Serge or zigzag the raw edge.

* Here’s an easy way to make the tiny drawstring opening. Before you turn down the waistband, open up the center-front seam ½", just a finger-tip-width below your waistline marks. Finish this seam opening as if it were a buttonhole, stitching a little square around the hole.

* Back to the waistband: Fold the fabric along the line you marked, and sew down the waist “tube” that you’ll be threading your elastic/drawstring through.

For the drawstring: You want it to be ²/3 fabric, ¹/3 elastic. This will “snug” you gently, and it won’t be too bunchy — just right, as Goldilocks would say. Cut out the drawstring according to the pattern (or make your own, the same length as your waist), and snip it in half.

Sew a piece of ½" or ¾" elastic half the length of your waist, between the two drawstrings. Now you have a long snake with elastic in its middle. Thread it through the tube.