Silhouette Patterns Fitting Trifecta Tour, Part 2

I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Seattle event of the Fitting Trifecta Tour with Peggy Sagers of Silhouette Patterns on January 25 and 26th, 2019 in Seatac, Washington. Peggy travels the country, teaching women how to make the clothes they sew fit properly on their bodies, with as little fuss as possible.

My notes from the workshop follow. I didn't take notes at the workshop; these are written from memory so there may be a few gaps.

Saturday Morning
During the Saturday morning workshop, we fitted Silhouette #3400, Three-Piece Yoga Pant. For this session, I was lucky enough to be Peggy's fitting model. What a bonus to be fitted by the expert!

Peggy started off by talking about LCD and how it relates to pants. She discussed what she thinks is a point of confusion: What is normally called "crotch depth" is actually a length measurement, and what is commonly called "crotch length" is a depth measurement.

Fitting the Pants

Length

Do you like where the crotch is hitting you? If not, pull the pants up or down until you do. NO SCOOPING or otherwise changing the crotch curve. What a revelation! We've been conditioned to think that waist seam of the pattern is sacrosanct and must be left unaltered at all costs. Instead, we go through muslin after muslin, fiddling with the crotch curve to the point where it probably would have been easier to draft the pattern ourselves. There was literally no one in the room for whom the crotch couldn't be made right simply by moving the pants up or down, and there were 30 to 40 women of all different shapes and sizes.

Circumference

Do you feel comfortable in the pants? Are they too tight or too loose? Small adjustments to the circumference of the waist and hips are taken at the side seams. If there is a lot to take in or let out, consider starting with a different size.

The circumference of the legs is taken only from the side seams above the knee, then equally from the side seam and inseam below the knee.

Depth

I needed all three corrections.
Also, this back view is horrifying.

Start on the back of the pants. Is there droopiness under the tush? We nicknamed this problem "cowl back." This is addressed with a horizontal dart taken at the fullest part of the seat, starting in the middle and tapering to nothing at the side seams. This must be addressed before anything else.

Someone asked if this would have the effect of making the crotch too tight. Peggy responded with a visual that included a ruler and a tape measure. I didn't take photos (of course) so I'll try to explain it.

Imagine, if you will, a ruler. The top of the rule is the waist. An arbitrary point halfway down the ruler is the crotch line. The tape measure is held in place at the waist and crotch line, with enough slack between the two points to curve out and approximate the shape of someone's bottom. Peggy then demonstrated how she could fold a tuck into the slack of the tape measure without moving the crotch line. Question answered.

After taking the dart at the hipline, there may still be horizontal drag lines below the seat. These are addressed at the crotch line by taking a dart that starts at the inseam and tapers to nothing at the side seam. A corresponding dart needs to be taken on the front of the leg.

Corresponding darts on front leg at
crotch and knee. Cat whiskers
 pinned out at center front.

There may be still more drag lines lower down on the leg. These are generally caused because the pants are hanging up on the calves. To eliminate these, a dart is taken just above the knee, starting at the side seam and tapering to nothing at the inseam. Again, a corresponding dart must be taken on the front of the leg.

Then we looked at the front of the pants. Horizontal wrinkles or cat whiskers are pinned out in a dart that starts at the center front seam and tapers to nothing at the side seam.

The alterations made on the muslin can be transferred to your flat pattern, or you can use the muslin as your pattern.

After everyone was fitted, she spent some time talking about how hard it can be to let go of old ideas about fitting (she specifically mentioned scooping the crotch curve) and reiterated that it really is as simple as her method makes it seem.

I'll be making a pair of altered yoga pants soon and will have a post here. I'm still unconvinced that knit pants are going to be a good look for me; I felt naked and exposed with them on, but I will, at least, be able to wear them around the house. I may be able to wear them in public if made in a very heavy ponte knit.

A New TNT Pattern!

I put the fitting know-how I learned here to work and made a t-shirt using Silhouette Patterns #195, Sweater Set.

I used a 60/40 Cotton/Rayon blend purchased a Joann. Based on my experience at the workshop, I again cut a size two, then made two adjustments to my flat pattern. I took a deeper dart at the shoulder seam, removing 5/16" at the shoulder point and tapering to nothing at the neck edge. I also made a swayback adjustment by means of a fisheye dart just above my waist. I slashed my pattern tissue from center back to side seam (not the cutting line!), then overlapped the cut edges at the center back by 3/4", tapering to nothing at the side seam.

And rather than making a shell, I added 3/4 length sleeves.

I am really pleased with the results, but there are two changes I want to make before sewing this again. First, I want to shorten the darts by, maybe, 3/8". They do end within the bust circle, but I would prefer it if they didn't come up quite so far. Second, I'll length the top by about 2". It's wearable, but I'll be more comfortable with the additional length.


The pattern instructions have you finish the neck edge by folding the seam allowance under and topstitching. Instead, I added a neck binding, following the instructions in this excellent video by Sarah Veblen.

This top represents some milestone moments for me. First, it's the first knit garment I have made for myself. Second...I USED MY SERGER. Okay, I basted it together on my sewing machine first, but still. And I used the cover stitch feature of my serger around the neck edge and for hemming.

Before I attended the fitting workshop, I was skeptical about adding darts to a t-shirt, but let me tell you...I AM A BELIEVER. The fit is amazing, and if you made the tee up in a print, no one would ever see the darts. I'm super excited to have a TNT t-shirt pattern. Finding one has been on my sewing to-do list and I'm happy to be able to check it off.

Silhouette Patterns Fitting Trifecta Tour, Part 1

I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Seattle event of the Fitting Trifecta Tour with Peggy Sagers of Silhouette Patterns on January 25 and 26th, 2019 in Seatac, Washington. Peggy travels the country, teaching women how to make the clothes they sew fit properly on their bodies, with as little fuss as possible.

My notes from the workshop follow. I didn't take notes at the workshop; these are written from memory so there may be a few gaps.

Friday Evening

The Friday evening workshop was to fit the shell from Silhouette Patterns #195, Sweater Set. Peggy started by talking about her approach to fitting, "LCD." L stands for length, C for circumference, and D for depth. When evaluating a garment, vertical drag lines indicate length issues, horizontal indicate circumference issues, and diagonal lines indicate depth issues. Adjustments are always worked in the same order...Length first, Circumference second, and Depth last.

Peggy demonstrated how these principles apply to the shell on a "fitting model" chosen from attendees.

Fitting the Shell

Length

Do the darts end inside the bust circle? Do you like where they end? If the darts come up too far, remove a few stitches; if they don't come up far enough, add a few stitches.

The bust circle is an imaginary construct with the bust apex at it's center and ranges in size from 3" in diameter in the smaller sizes and and up to 5" or more, depending on the size of the garment. It is acceptable for darts to end at any point inside the circle, but they must not extend past the bust apex. Everyone in the workshop seemed to have different opinions on perfect dart placement, but as long as the darts end inside the circle, without extending past the bust apex, it's a matter of personal preference.

Circumference

Does it feel comfortable? Is there adequate circumference? Look for horizontal drag lines to evaluate. Let out the side seams if necessary, or go to a bigger size. Is there too much circumference? Take in the side seams or try a smaller size.

Depth

Is there gapping around the arm scye? This is corrected at the shoulder seam. Remember, the shoulder seam, an angled line, is a dart. Gapping is corrected by taking a deeper dart.

Question: After you take a deeper dart at the shoulder seam, how do you modify the sleeve to fit? Answer: No sleeve modifications are necessary, because you restore the original arm scye to connect the new shoulder point with the underarm seam.

Question: Do you take an equal amount all the way across the shoulder seam? Answer: No, you taper to nothing at the neck edge. If you take an equal amount all the way across, you've adjusted length, not depth.

High round back is a depth issue. Before you make this adjustment you must pass the three-question test. 1. Is the neck too high (i.e., choking you) in the front? 2. Are the shoulder seams pulling to the back? 3. Is the back neck too low? If you can't answer yes to all three questions, you do not need a high round back adjustment. The solution to the high round back issue is to slash the back from stitching line to stitching line (at or above...sorry, I don't remember exactly where to make the slash*) the shoulder blades, allowing the back to relax. The shoulder seams are now free to move forward, Next, a piece of fabric is added under the slash and pinned to the garment. The top of the slash must be pinned first.

The swayback adjustment is required if there is pooling above the waist in the back. The solution is to take a dart just above the waist, starting in the middle and tapering to nothing at the side seams. Be aware that pooling can also be caused when a garment is snug enough around the hips that it can't move freely up and down over the hips during movement.  If you make a swayback adjustment and, afterwards, the back hem is raised in the middle, the swayback adjustment wasn't required. At this point, you have to decide if you wan't more circumference around the hips This is a personal decision.

Those are all the issues we discussed during the workshop. On thing that was striking was how many women (a large majority) had chosen a size that was too large, even many sizes too large.  Think about this when choosing your size, and even when evaluating your muslin for circumference. Many of the women had to be told their tops were too large; they couldn't see it themselves.

Unfortunately, I don't have before and after photos of my shell because, honestly, it was really, really good right out of the envelope. My partner did make a tiny change to the shoulder seam and a swayback adjustment, but I didn't think to have her take photos of it. I was skeptical about the concept of having darts in knit tops, but I am a believer now. This fit of this shell is pretty fantastic, and on a print, the darts don't even show.

As I found out, being able to attend a fitting workshop with Peggy Sagers is a fantastic opportunity, but you don't have to feel left out if you can't attend one. Peggy has generously shared a huge amount of information, for free, on the Silhouette Patterns YouTube channel. You can see her line of patterns here.

*My friend, Debi, who also attended the workshop says the slash for the high round back adjustment is taken just above the shoulder blades.