It is so great that you credit all of your sources and encourage others to check out all the methods! I love the explanation of the difference between a dart or pleats purpose and couldn't agree more! 💚
I "met" you thorough your Craftsy classes and I am so glad you have this You Tube Channel - I love you mini pattern tutorials and your laid back style. I am so glad that want to share your expertise Thank you!
Wow. You’re so educated! It is fascinating!! I’m trying so hard to follow… I have wide hips and want to take pleats or darts out of the front. Do you have a tutorial explaining that?
Thank you for this tutorial. I never knew any of this and have drafted a few pairs of pants that needed lots of alterations. So next pair will be following your instructions here. Thank you thank you.
I'm totally intrigued with your Pants videos. Still working on the Happy Pants and struggling with front thigh pulling up from knee when walking. In the process of trying to understand the top down, center out and low and behold, I came across articles in Threads written by Joyce Murphy on Waist down, Center out. What?? Well written article with good photo ops. Her article is from the June/July 2005 pgs 35-39 and another article on Waistband and what's inside that counts, February/March 2005 pgs 33-37. I'm really focusing on combining her fitting process and yours. In my opinion, I felt Threads didn't hit the target with Practical Pants Fitting with Ruth Collins in Summer 2022. Concept was there but written article became confusing. Planning on solving my fitting mystery soon and will be anxious to have the front pleated trousers you just mentioned. My all time favorite trouser that LLBean used to offer and fit perfectly. Ok, dating myself. Keep on sewing!
:) Keep me posted if you need help. I've been working on fitting my Happy Pants using the Top Down Center Out method... and I feel like I'm able to balance the front/back leg and get the crotch, inseam and hem to hang right before I start playing with the side seams. I'm busy trying to come up with the easiest way to get to comfortable fitted pants ... TDCO is definitely making it easier... Interested in checking out Joyce Murphy's method... I'll have to see if I can find it! Thanks for sharing and fitting along with me!
Thank you for very interesting information about pleats. I love trousers with pleats, but in most patterns the pleats are drawn to be folded outwards. I prefer pleats that fold towards the center front. The stomach looks smaller then :)-. I have always wondered if you can change the direction of the pleat and if so, how to do it. I would appreciate it very much if you could show this in one of your fitting videos. You are a great teacher. Thank you for sharing your expertise and experience.
I'm teaching a class on the Top Down Center Out Pants Fitting Method in October. We will be using the High Waist Pleated Trousers from Assembly Line Patterns... I will play with that with my students to see how the direct of the pleats flatter different shapes. Stay tuned!
I really enjoyed seeing the big picture in pants drafting. Your illustrations were so helpful!!! And I finally realized why I get better results from tracing out pleats instead of just marking the edges. I have a question, though. When you create two back darts instead of one, are they both usually the same length? Is there a general rule of thumb about how far apart they are? On every pair of pants I make, I have to take fabric out of the center back seam in addition to my regular dart. When I increase the dart too much, the back looks funny, so creating two darts sounds like the perfect solution for me. I’d like to try draping out two darts instead of one and having a little more standard back seam.
Thank you for sharing all your knowledge and wisdom. I think I appreciate your enthusiasm most of all. When you get bogged down in the fitting process, having someone happy and cheerful to explain things really makes the process easier. I’ve been going back and watching some of your older videos, so I think creating a playlist for each topic is a stellar idea!
Thank you so much for the kind words (and for fitting along with me). Waist darts can be the same length... or they can be different lengths. They can also be orientated in any direction. It's most common to see them positioned so they look straight and parallel with the CB seam... But they don't have to be. Keep in mind they do affect the direction of the fabric below them some. Also, a dart can get too big, causing funny business... two can be better... Another way to take out more in one dart is to create curved dart legs (so they bow inward in the middle (halfway between the waistline and tip of the dart). Typically this style dart is used when you have a high round hip and you need a short dart. ,,,but you can experiment and baste them in to see how they affect the look of the fabric underneath. Hope this helps!
Thank you so much for this. I wanted to try and make one pleat on both front waist about 2" length for man trouser. I can draft my pattern. But i am still looking for more understanding about trouser with pleats. Sometimes i see people slash their pattern all the way to the hem. And i was a bit confused. God bless you for sharing your knowledge with us.
Thank you for this! I’m still a little fuzzy on this method but will watch the other YTers to see ! I think there was an article from the creator in Threads magazine I will search this year’s magazines that I have. 😅
:) Yesssss, there is an article in the Spring 2022 issue (with the yellow dress on the cover!) Plus she did a pod cast with Threads... here's a link to that. www.threadsmagazine.com/2022/04/06/a-new-approach-to-pants-fitting-with-ruth-collins-episode-51
Question on pleats... How can you know (or figure out) where the designer ended the pleat? Also, if you're making a muslin to fit, would you be better off sewing down the pleat to find out if you have enough ease in the thigh (for those of us with large thighs)? When I bought pleated pants years ago, the pleats would spread way out and not look great. They were basically just giving me the needed ease in my thighs. Oh, I've signed up for your Stitches class in October. I cannot wait!!!
Great questions! If you follow the angle of the pleat markings (lengthen them down the leg) ... That will give you a good idea the direction they are going. You can fold the pleat down the leg. Notice if the side and inseams start to get distorted... It's likely that where they start to distort is where the pleat ends. But it may also be hard to tell. Basting the pleat down to see if you have enough ease in the leg without spreading the pleat is an excellent idea. After you add ease, you can take the basting out to see how the fabric is laying! Also, excited that you're joining me for class! Thanks so much
I got carried away telling you how much I appreciate you, I forgot to ask the question in my previous note to you😍 In a bought pattern, how do you find where the pleat ends and in Top Down Center out are the pleats to be folded out? I hop that makes sense. Thank you.
:) You can "guestimate" where the pleat ends by laying the pattern piece flat on your work surface. Start at the waistline and fold the pleat in place... then continue folding it down the leg until it starts to distort or pull at the sides. (The more angled the fold guidelines are at the waist, the shorter the pleat is likely to be because if you continue to fold it along those angles, they will come together faster (end of pleat). When I made the Assembly Line High Waist Pleated Trousers, I folded the pleats in place as if I were sewing pants in my muslin. You can baste them flat for the first few inches so they are easier to manage when you're trying to fit the waistline vertically. Hope this helps! Thanks for fitting along with me
That's a good question. I'll add that to my upcoming tutorial list. (It's a little more complicated than just drawing a dart where the pleat is!) Thanks for watching
Great video! I have a question I hoped you might answer, regarding fitting darts in pants: If a woman has a very flat abdomen, is it better to add very narrow front darts- OR - to eliminate front darts all together ? ( there are no issues with the back) Thanks!
:) I always baste my darts in when I'm fitting... Then in the muslin, I play with adjusting them. If you have a very flat abdomen, you don't need to direct more fabric down the front leg to flow over a belly, so you probably don't need much of a front dart. Try taking it out and smoothing it off along the side seam. If the fabric still drapes nicely, you don't need the dart. If removing the dart "messes up" the drape of the leg, leave it! I hope this helps, thanks for fitting along with me
Thank you so much for the information; your videos are always so packed with info! I'm wondering if it's possible to transform a pleat into a dart that might possibly become a seam down the front leg. Pleats look terrible on me, maybe because of my pelvis tilt. They always balloon out at crouch level. I suppose I could just use a flat front pattern but I own two patterns that otherwise fit quite well. Thanks!
My Pleasure! Try pinning out the pleat at the waist and down your leg... The trick is going to be removing the excess ease added by creating the pleat. You may need to play with how far down your leg you pin out the ease. It may go down to the knee or it may go all the way down to the hem. One way you can take a more educated guess is to compare the width of the hem of the front leg to the back. If the front leg hem width is significantly wider than the back hem, it's very likely that the pleat was extended through the hem... This means you can slash the pattern vertically and overlap the pieces to get rid of the ease all the way down. If the the hems are similar in width, or the back hem is wider, the pleat did not go through the hem... Check the knee level and look for the same thing to get more info... A traditional pants pattern without pleats will have leg widths that are similar... or the back leg is slightly wider approximately 1/4"-2" wider. Hope this helps! ...another option would be to sew the pleats down until they lay flat :)
I have noticed that on the pattern pieces presented in the videos show a back side seam and front side seam that are not curved the same from the crotch depth line downward. I thought the side seams were supposed to match when placing one on top of the other.
That's a good observation. The general shape and angle of the side and inseams should be similar... But the back and front are different because of the shaping at the back waistline with darts (causing less of a hip curve at the top of the side seam compared to the front) & a more curved inseam because the back crotch point extends out farther than the front crotch point. If you lay the front leg on top of the back leg, the side and inseams should mirror each other's shapes ... but they don't need to be exactly the same. Hope that helps!
Hi, could you explain why a designer would add knee pleats vs darts? How it changes the silhouette? from what I'm understanding knee darts, especially at an angle can shape pants and contour them, but knee pleats I'm having a harder time understanding the change it would make in a pair of pants sewn horizontally
That's a great question. I get the need for knee darts to add shape to a leg at the need for comfort and mobility... but a pleat? ... a pleat adds ease inside, but because it's horizontal vs. vertical, It would add a bulky/baggy shape to the pant leg at the knee. I wish I could be more helpful with this... it's one of those things I'm not very familiar with this topic!
So crotch extensions aren’t static? They change based on the design? Your tip on pleats showed me why my pantlegs curl toward the side seam. I unknowingly slant my pleats!
So happy to help! ...and yes, crotch extensions get longer as the ease in the pants gets greater... So snug jeans will have the shortest crotch extensions... Then Slacks (Cup under your butt then become looser around the leg) - Trousers (Loose from the waistband, with the crotch hovering slightly below your body) ,,, The longest crotch extensions are on split skirts. Hope this helps! Thanks for watching
@@JSternDesigns Ahh! You have enlightened me after over 60 years of sewing. I have a split skirt where the crotch is so very long, and I was thinking it needed to be shorter. Now I understand why it’s long. Thank you so much!
I have been putting elastic on the sides of the front to add some flexible expansion for comfort. When I eat a big meal I don't expand in the back, so some elastic in the front makes more sense to me. Should this affect the fit like a dart or a pleat?
You can create shape with darts and pleats... Then add extra ease along the front waistline so you can add elastic to the side front sections to add some flexible fitting to the waistband. (I have that same issue when I'm having my big bowl of pasta!) Thanks for fitting along with me
It is so great that you credit all of your sources and encourage others to check out all the methods! I love the explanation of the difference between a dart or pleats purpose and couldn't agree more! 💚
:) Thank you for the kind words and for following along!
I "met" you thorough your Craftsy classes and I am so glad you have this You Tube Channel - I love you mini pattern tutorials and your laid back style. I am so glad that want to share your expertise Thank you!
Thank you so much! I'm happy you found me too! Thanks for fitting along with me :)
Thank you! This is a great summary of pant patterning!
You are so welcome! Thanks for fitting along with me!
Thanks for this excellent explanation. I really hadn't understood the difference before watching, so super helpful information.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching
Wow. You’re so educated! It is fascinating!! I’m trying so hard to follow… I have wide hips and want to take pleats or darts out of the front. Do you have a tutorial explaining that?
Thanks so much... and that's a great idea for a tutorial... Stay tuned, I'll add that to my short list for upcoming tutorials, thanks for watching
Thank you for this tutorial. I never knew any of this and have drafted a few pairs of pants that needed lots of alterations. So next pair will be following your instructions here. Thank you thank you.
Glad it was helpful! Thank you for fitting along with me!
I'm totally intrigued with your Pants videos. Still working on the Happy Pants and struggling with front thigh pulling up from knee when walking. In the process of trying to understand the top down, center out and low and behold, I came across articles in Threads written by Joyce Murphy on Waist down, Center out. What?? Well written article with good photo ops. Her article is from the June/July 2005 pgs 35-39 and another article on Waistband and what's inside that counts, February/March 2005 pgs 33-37. I'm really focusing on combining her fitting process and yours. In my opinion, I felt Threads didn't hit the target with Practical Pants Fitting with Ruth Collins in Summer 2022. Concept was there but written article became confusing. Planning on solving my fitting mystery soon and will be anxious to have the front pleated trousers you just mentioned. My all time favorite trouser that LLBean used to offer and fit perfectly. Ok, dating myself. Keep on sewing!
:) Keep me posted if you need help. I've been working on fitting my Happy Pants using the Top Down Center Out method... and I feel like I'm able to balance the front/back leg and get the crotch, inseam and hem to hang right before I start playing with the side seams. I'm busy trying to come up with the easiest way to get to comfortable fitted pants ... TDCO is definitely making it easier... Interested in checking out Joyce Murphy's method... I'll have to see if I can find it! Thanks for sharing and fitting along with me!
Thank you for very interesting information about pleats. I love trousers with pleats, but in most patterns the pleats are drawn to be folded outwards. I prefer pleats that fold towards the center front. The stomach looks smaller then :)-. I have always wondered if you can change the direction of the pleat and if so, how to do it. I would appreciate it very much if you could show this in one of your fitting videos. You are a great teacher. Thank you for sharing your expertise and experience.
I'm teaching a class on the Top Down Center Out Pants Fitting Method in October. We will be using the High Waist Pleated Trousers from Assembly Line Patterns... I will play with that with my students to see how the direct of the pleats flatter different shapes. Stay tuned!
I really enjoyed seeing the big picture in pants drafting. Your illustrations were so helpful!!! And I finally realized why I get better results from tracing out pleats instead of just marking the edges. I have a question, though. When you create two back darts instead of one, are they both usually the same length? Is there a general rule of thumb about how far apart they are? On every pair of pants I make, I have to take fabric out of the center back seam in addition to my regular dart. When I increase the dart too much, the back looks funny, so creating two darts sounds like the perfect solution for me. I’d like to try draping out two darts instead of one and having a little more standard back seam.
Thank you for sharing all your knowledge and wisdom. I think I appreciate your enthusiasm most of all. When you get bogged down in the fitting process, having someone happy and cheerful to explain things really makes the process easier. I’ve been going back and watching some of your older videos, so I think creating a playlist for each topic is a stellar idea!
Thank you so much for the kind words (and for fitting along with me). Waist darts can be the same length... or they can be different lengths. They can also be orientated in any direction. It's most common to see them positioned so they look straight and parallel with the CB seam... But they don't have to be. Keep in mind they do affect the direction of the fabric below them some. Also, a dart can get too big, causing funny business... two can be better... Another way to take out more in one dart is to create curved dart legs (so they bow inward in the middle (halfway between the waistline and tip of the dart). Typically this style dart is used when you have a high round hip and you need a short dart. ,,,but you can experiment and baste them in to see how they affect the look of the fabric underneath. Hope this helps!
@@JSternDesigns Thank you! That was exactly the information I needed.
That was pretty interesting.
Thanks! ...and thank you for fitting along with me
Thank you so much for this. I wanted to try and make one pleat on both front waist about 2" length for man trouser. I can draft my pattern.
But i am still looking for more understanding about trouser with pleats.
Sometimes i see people slash their pattern all the way to the hem.
And i was a bit confused.
God bless you for sharing your knowledge with us.
So happy this helps with your pants drafting! Thanks for watching
Kudos, thanks for sharing
You're welcome... Thanks for watching!
Thank you for this! I’m still a little fuzzy on this method but will watch the other YTers to see ! I think there was an article from the creator in Threads magazine I will search this year’s magazines that I have. 😅
:) Yesssss, there is an article in the Spring 2022 issue (with the yellow dress on the cover!) Plus she did a pod cast with Threads... here's a link to that. www.threadsmagazine.com/2022/04/06/a-new-approach-to-pants-fitting-with-ruth-collins-episode-51
Question on pleats... How can you know (or figure out) where the designer ended the pleat? Also, if you're making a muslin to fit, would you be better off sewing down the pleat to find out if you have enough ease in the thigh (for those of us with large thighs)? When I bought pleated pants years ago, the pleats would spread way out and not look great. They were basically just giving me the needed ease in my thighs.
Oh, I've signed up for your Stitches class in October. I cannot wait!!!
Great questions! If you follow the angle of the pleat markings (lengthen them down the leg) ... That will give you a good idea the direction they are going. You can fold the pleat down the leg. Notice if the side and inseams start to get distorted... It's likely that where they start to distort is where the pleat ends. But it may also be hard to tell. Basting the pleat down to see if you have enough ease in the leg without spreading the pleat is an excellent idea. After you add ease, you can take the basting out to see how the fabric is laying! Also, excited that you're joining me for class! Thanks so much
Thank you 🙏
You’re welcome 😊
I got carried away telling you how much I appreciate you, I forgot to ask the question in my previous note to you😍
In a bought pattern, how do you find where the pleat ends and in Top Down Center out are the pleats to be folded out? I hop that makes sense. Thank you.
:) You can "guestimate" where the pleat ends by laying the pattern piece flat on your work surface. Start at the waistline and fold the pleat in place... then continue folding it down the leg until it starts to distort or pull at the sides. (The more angled the fold guidelines are at the waist, the shorter the pleat is likely to be because if you continue to fold it along those angles, they will come together faster (end of pleat). When I made the Assembly Line High Waist Pleated Trousers, I folded the pleats in place as if I were sewing pants in my muslin. You can baste them flat for the first few inches so they are easier to manage when you're trying to fit the waistline vertically. Hope this helps! Thanks for fitting along with me
@@JSternDesigns Thank you for detailed and understandable explanation !!!
Hello, Thank you for this helpful video! I am looking for help changing pleats into darts on pants waist. Any suggestions?
That's a good question. I'll add that to my upcoming tutorial list. (It's a little more complicated than just drawing a dart where the pleat is!) Thanks for watching
Great video! I have a question I hoped you might answer, regarding fitting darts in pants: If a woman has a very flat abdomen, is it better to add very narrow front darts- OR - to eliminate front darts all together ? ( there are no issues with the back) Thanks!
:) I always baste my darts in when I'm fitting... Then in the muslin, I play with adjusting them. If you have a very flat abdomen, you don't need to direct more fabric down the front leg to flow over a belly, so you probably don't need much of a front dart. Try taking it out and smoothing it off along the side seam. If the fabric still drapes nicely, you don't need the dart. If removing the dart "messes up" the drape of the leg, leave it! I hope this helps, thanks for fitting along with me
Thank you so much for the information; your videos are always so packed with info! I'm wondering if it's possible to transform a pleat into a dart that might possibly become a seam down the front leg. Pleats look terrible on me, maybe because of my pelvis tilt. They always balloon out at crouch level. I suppose I could just use a flat front pattern but I own two patterns that otherwise fit quite well. Thanks!
My Pleasure! Try pinning out the pleat at the waist and down your leg... The trick is going to be removing the excess ease added by creating the pleat. You may need to play with how far down your leg you pin out the ease. It may go down to the knee or it may go all the way down to the hem. One way you can take a more educated guess is to compare the width of the hem of the front leg to the back. If the front leg hem width is significantly wider than the back hem, it's very likely that the pleat was extended through the hem... This means you can slash the pattern vertically and overlap the pieces to get rid of the ease all the way down. If the the hems are similar in width, or the back hem is wider, the pleat did not go through the hem... Check the knee level and look for the same thing to get more info... A traditional pants pattern without pleats will have leg widths that are similar... or the back leg is slightly wider approximately 1/4"-2" wider. Hope this helps! ...another option would be to sew the pleats down until they lay flat :)
@@JSternDesigns Thank you for taking the time out to answer! The information is just what I was looking for.
I have noticed that on the pattern pieces presented in the videos show a back side seam and front side seam that are not curved the same from the crotch depth line downward. I thought the side seams were supposed to match when placing one on top of the other.
That's a good observation. The general shape and angle of the side and inseams should be similar... But the back and front are different because of the shaping at the back waistline with darts (causing less of a hip curve at the top of the side seam compared to the front) & a more curved inseam because the back crotch point extends out farther than the front crotch point. If you lay the front leg on top of the back leg, the side and inseams should mirror each other's shapes ... but they don't need to be exactly the same. Hope that helps!
Hi, could you explain why a designer would add knee pleats vs darts? How it changes the silhouette? from what I'm understanding knee darts, especially at an angle can shape pants and contour them, but knee pleats I'm having a harder time understanding the change it would make in a pair of pants sewn horizontally
That's a great question. I get the need for knee darts to add shape to a leg at the need for comfort and mobility... but a pleat? ... a pleat adds ease inside, but because it's horizontal vs. vertical, It would add a bulky/baggy shape to the pant leg at the knee. I wish I could be more helpful with this... it's one of those things I'm not very familiar with this topic!
So crotch extensions aren’t static? They change based on the design? Your tip on pleats showed me why my pantlegs curl toward the side seam. I unknowingly slant my pleats!
So happy to help! ...and yes, crotch extensions get longer as the ease in the pants gets greater... So snug jeans will have the shortest crotch extensions... Then Slacks (Cup under your butt then become looser around the leg) - Trousers (Loose from the waistband, with the crotch hovering slightly below your body) ,,, The longest crotch extensions are on split skirts. Hope this helps! Thanks for watching
@@JSternDesigns Ahh! You have enlightened me after over 60 years of sewing. I have a split skirt where the crotch is so very long, and I was thinking it needed to be shorter. Now I understand why it’s long. Thank you so much!
I have been putting elastic on the sides of the front to add some flexible expansion for comfort. When I eat a big meal I don't expand in the back, so some elastic in the front makes more sense to me. Should this affect the fit like a dart or a pleat?
You can create shape with darts and pleats... Then add extra ease along the front waistline so you can add elastic to the side front sections to add some flexible fitting to the waistband. (I have that same issue when I'm having my big bowl of pasta!) Thanks for fitting along with me
I'm a beginner. I understood darts, but not so well pleats. If you could illustrate on fabric will be a huge help.
That's a good point! I'll add that to my list of upcoming topics. Thank for watching
Does this technique work for men’s trousers as well?
I think it would... It's a size and body shape inclusive method... so, why not try it on Men's Pants! Keep me posted if you need help!
@@JSternDesigns Thanks
This seems so complicated it doesn't help
So sorry about that... Do you have specific questions I can answer for you?