Pants Fitting Adjustments for a Sewing Pattern

Rivet Patterns Pants Fitting Adjustments for a Sewing Pattern

Pants fitting can be daunting. Most of us have had the experience of trying on pants after pants, hoping to find something that doesn't fit us too badly. Clothing manufacturers draft their patterns for an 'average', just like sewing pattern designers. Rise, ease and crotch curves differ widely from company to company. A clothing line directed at juniors will have a flatter front, smaller waist and a fuller tush. Another directed at those of us past our clubbing days will have more room in the front and waist with a flatter tush.

When you take into account height, body size, age and body proportions, it's no wonder you can't just walk into a store, grab a pair of pants in your 'size', and waltz off with great fitting pants. All of which comes back to 'this is why we sew!' I'm going to take you through the most common of pants fitting adjustments. I often reference the Pants for Real People book. You can get it (and others in the series) off of Amazon fairly inexpensively, and it has a ton more information than I can fit on a blog. One last thing before we get started. You will not be able to eliminate all wrinkles and folds. They point to the problem, but they are also a part of being animate, moving human beings. 

I'm going to start by telling you to MAKE A MUSLIN. It's important. It's the best basis for figuring out your adjustments. If you don't normally have knee or calf issues, a pair of shorts is just fine. If you do need knee or calf adjustments, I'd still start with working with a shorts muslin and then move on to a full pants muslin to address those.

There are a few things to do BEFORE making your muslin. First, make sure you are doing all of your Lengthening/Shortening alterations. Next, if your waist and hip measurements fall into different sizes, you will want to Grade Your Pattern appropriately. Another thing that can be very helpful is to add extra on to your seam allowance and baste your pants together. The extra seam allowance and basting allows you to make minor adjustments to your inseam, outseam, and crotch curves without needing to make an entirely new muslin each time. After you make a muslin, download this Pants Fitting Coloring Page. Assess your wrinkles and draw them on the pants images. Then compare them to the images in this guide. As in all things, there are often different ways of getting to the same endpoint. If you search the wilds of the internet, you will likely find different, more complicated, and possibly more accurate, ways of making adjustments. For our purposes though, we are going to keep things as simple as possible.

We'll start by talking about the crotch. So much of pants fitting comes back to crotch curve and lengths. First, let's talk about crotch depth. Crotch depth is the measurement from crotch to natural waist, and is dependent on height and body proportion. This adjustment is an overall rise adjustment and you can find it in the blog post How to Lengthen or Shorten a Sewing Pattern.

Now let's look at crotch length. Crotch length is the measurement from the front natural waist, through the legs and up to the back natural waist. Crotch length = front rise + back rise. This measurement is dependent not only on height and body proportions, but how you carry your weight. This is another place where a muslin comes in super duper handy. You can mark your front waist, back waist, and crotch seam on your tape measure, and compare to the finished measurements in the tutorial. This will give you a starting map on whether you need to add to your front rise, back rise, or both.

FRONT BELLY AND CROTCH CURVE

Let's start with the front rise and crotch curve.

Full Belly Adjustment: When you assessed your front and back rise, you may have noticed your front rise needed more room. If you carry your weight in your tummy, this is a very common adjustment. You will have horizontal and diagonal wrinkles all pointing towards your tummy. Your side seam may be pulled forward, the center front pulled down, and the crotch pulled up. If your need for extra fabric is small, you may be able to let out the side seams at the belly line in the front pant only. For a larger adjustment, you will need more fabric up and down in addition to letting out the side seam. Cut your pattern pieces horizontally above the crotch curve. Cut from the front rise to the side seam, but not all the way through, to make a hinge. Raise the front pant at the waist to add length, and redraw the center front.

Flat Belly Adjustment: This one isn't as common, but if you have a flat stomach and the pattern you are working with takes some belly fullness into account, you may need to make an adjustment. Flat belly wrinkles are horizontal folds in the lower belly/crotch area, made by too much fabric in the rise. When you assessed your front and back rise, you may have noticed your front rise seemed too high. Cut your pattern pieces horizontally above the crotch curve. Cut from the front rise to the side seam, but not all the way through, to make a hinge. Lower the front pant at the waist to remove length, and redraw the center front. You may also need to take in the side seam at the belly line in the front pant only. 

Round Pubis: See what I'm saying that ALL parts of humans are different? A round pubis just means that the pubic bone is more prominent and the pants seam sits too close. You will see smile wrinkles pulling up from the crotch area. This is also well known as 'camel toe'. To give your front crotch more room, scoop out the front crotch curve. Start small (1/8-1/4") and baste the amount out of your muslin. You might also see two 'bubbles' on either side of the seam. Again, it's telling you that the curve of your pubic bone doesn't match the front crotch curve. You can baste out the extra to see your new crotch curve. Keep going until the front crotch area lays nicely.

Flat Pubis: Just ast he pubic bone can be prominent, it can also be set back. You won't see this as often, but it will appear as horizontal droopy folds right at the front crotch. To adjust, you'll flatten the front crotch curve. Start small (1/8-1/4") as a little bit goes a long way with this adjustment. You can remove previous basting and re-baste further out for as much extra seam allowance you added for your muslin.

BUTT AND BACK CROTCH CURVE

Moving on to the back and we'll see some similar lines as we did on the front.

Full Butt Adjustment: When you assessed your front and back rise, you may have noticed your back rise needed a lot more room. If you carry your weight in your bum, this is a very common adjustment. You will have horizontal and diagonal wrinkles all pointing towards the fullest part of your butt at the center back seam. Your side seam may be pulled backwards, the center back pulled down and the crotch pulled up. If your need for extra fabric is small, you may be able to let out the side seams at the fullest part of the butt in the back pant only. For a larger adjustment, you will need more fabric up and down in addition to letting out the side seam. Cut your pattern pieces horizontally at the high hip line, above the crotch curve. Cut from the back rise to the side seam, but not all the way through, to make a hinge. Raise the back pant at the waist to add length, and redraw the center back. Keep in mind this adjustment can often coincide with a Low Butt Adjustment and/or a Full Inner Thigh Adjustment which address the shape of the crotch curve and the length of the crotch points.

Flat Butt Adjustment: When you assessed your front and back rise, you may have noticed your back rise seemed too high. You will have excess fabric in folds pointing downwards under the seat. If your need to remove fabric is small, you may be able to baste the side seams in the back pant only. For a larger adjustment, you will need less fabric up and down in addition to taking in the side seam. Cut your pattern pieces horizontally at the high hip line, above the crotch curve. Cut from the back rise to the side seam, but not all the way through, to make a hinge. Lower the back pant at the waist to remove length, and redraw the center back.

Low Butt Adjustment: If the fullest part of your butt sits lower down than the pattern's crotch curve, you'll see tight horizontal wrinkles just under the butt. Some wrinkles there are normal and expected, especially in non-stretch pants, because you need sitting ease. To give your bum more room where it is needed, you will need to scoop out the crotch curve to more closely match your own. Instead of 'C' shape, you're going for more of a 'J' shape. You can baste this out of your muslin until you are happy with it. When you scoop out the crotch curve, you are giving your bum more room, but you are also taking it away from the overall hip measurement. If the amount is significant, you'll want to add that amount back at the side seam.

Sway Back Adjustment: Sway back occurs when your pelvis is tipped slightly forward. The tilt makes your center back measurement slightly shorter. You'll see pooling of fabric right in the small of your back. The trick is to reduce the amount of fabric in the center back without removing it from the side seams. Colette has a lovely in-depth tutorial that I have only attempted once on a pair of fitted woven pants. Most of the time, I'm working with knit pants patterns, and opt to take the easy avenue. The first thing to do is reduce the back rise a little. You can use the same method as the Flat Butt Adjustment, or simply mark it at the center back seam and blend it back in to zero at the side seams. The second thing to do is to take a bit of the width out of the back seam by taking a small wedge out. I will sometimes do one or the other or a little of both depending on how my muslin looks.

THIGHS AND LEGS:

Lastly, let's move on down to the legs starting with the thighs. Sometimes, if your thigh is just a bit bigger or smaller in size, you can Grade your pattern and that's all it takes. Oftentimes, it's not enough and you will need to do some adjustments.

Full Inner Thighs: If your inner thighs are larger than what the pattern is drafted for, you'll see tight wrinkles from the thigh pointing to the crotch. The wrinkles will usually be more prominent on the back. To give your thighs more room, extend the front and back crotch points depending on the location and severity of the wrinkles. For example, if you have a lot of wrinkles in the back, but not many in the front, you may need to extend the back crotch point more than the front. If you basted your muslin together, you can experiment by letting out each crotch point To add length to the crotch point, cut vertically from the bottom of the crotch curve to mid-thigh, but not all the way through, to make a hinge. Move your crotch points out, and redraw the crotch curve.

Full Outer Thighs: You also may need to add to the side seams if your outer thighs are full as well. You will see horizontal wrinkles from the crotch pointing to the full part of your thigh. If you basted your muslin together, you can experiment by letting out each side seam. On your pattern piece, add width to the side seams at the crotch line.

Thin Inner Thighs: If your thighs are thinner than what the pattern is drafted for, you may have excess fabric on your inner thighs and crotch. You will see wrinkles pointing down the leg coming from the crotch. To remove excess fabric, baste the inner crotch points of the front and back further in depending on the location and severity of the excess. For example, you might have a lot more extra fabric on the front than the back so you would want to remove more from the back crotch point. If you basted your muslin together, you can experiment with basting out the excess from each crotch point. To remove length from the crotch point, cut vertically from the bottom of the crotch curve to mid-thigh, but not all the way through, to make a hinge. Move your crotch points in, and redraw the crotch curve.

Thin Outer Thighs: You also may need to remove width from the side seams if your inner thighs are thin as well. You will see vertical wrinkles along the outseams of the legs. If you basted your muslin together, you can experiment by basting in each side seam. On your pattern piece, remove width to the side seams at the crotch line.

Full Calf Adjustment: If you have nice, strong calf muscles, you may find that pants are a little too tight in that area. You'll see tight horizontal lines just below the knee. For a full calf adjustment, first cut a straight vertical line up the center of the back pants from hemline to knee. Next, cut two angled lines toward each seam to make a 'Y' shape. When you get to the inseam/outseam, cut to, but not through, to make hinges. Spread the pieces apart by the amount that you wish to add. True up your angled hemline. When you are through, you may want to taper the hemline back to its original opening.

Knock Knee Adjustment: If your knees tend to gravitate towards each other, you might feel like pants are little tight at the inner knee and have excess fabric at the outer knee. To make a knock knee adjustment, you want to add a little extra to the inseam while taking a little away from the outseam. On both the front and the back pants, cut horizontally at the mid-thigh to the center of the pant. Do this from both the inseam and the outseam, leaving a small bit in the center to act as a hinge. Rotate the top of the pant towards the outseam. Redraw the inseam and outseam.

Bow Legged Adjustment: If your knees tend to gravitate away from each other, you might feel like pants are little tight at the outer knee and have excess fabric at the inner knee. To make a bow legged adjustment, you want to add a little extra to the outseam while taking a little away from the inseam. On both the front and the back pants, cut horizontally at the mid-thigh to the center of the pant. Do this from both the inseam and the outseam, leaving a small bit in the center to act as a hinge. Rotate the top of the pant towards the inseam. Redraw the inseam and outseam.

That's it! Go rock it in your great fitting pants!

Happy Making!

Rachelle