sewniptuck

Recently I drafted my own very full legged pants from my block. This shape makes a regular appearance in my wardrobe, here are 2 pairs made from a Style Arc pattern many, many moons ago. This post is a dissertation on the relative merits of crotch point extension in my humble experience and why it’s done in full legged pants, complete with scientific analysis and photographs I tell ya! I have recently embraced photo compression technology and would really appreciate your honest feedback. Do faster loading times justify the loss of quality in these photographs or are they clear enough. Please, don’t hold back!

 

Clothing choices for the past 5 years have been dictated by footwear – I shredded my right plantar fascia while running on a beach and words cannot describe the dull ache followed by shooting, stabby pains radiating up my leg after walking. All orthopods should have at least 1 bout of plantar fasciitis in their lives and may fleas infest the jock strap of the one I saw about my left foot wherein he remarked “oh, it’s just plantar fasciitis”, like it could be cured with a course of antibiotics. That one took 4 years to resolve, thanks for nothing Mr Orthopod. Thing is, it’s not really a heel height thing, it’s more of a stability issue and frankly I’ve worn sensible shoes all my life ‘cos I like to stride. She drops to her knees pleading to the Gods of footwear… please let me find a pair of shoes that feel like the sensible $350 German walking shoes but not $350. While you’re at it, can you make them fashionable and feminine cos those sheilas at mardi gras are giving me looks, maybe they just want my sensible shoes!! BTW, the converse in the photos below are killers, so hard underfoot – they kill me.

In her Craftsy class Designing Pants – Suzy suggested dropping and extending the crotch point for a loose pant, but as I am not one to trust anyone, I first tried leaving the toile crotch point as it was on my pant block. See (below) how the crotch just looks too tight accentuating the boof afforded by the pleats? It just looks weird doesn’t it? This crotch point was fine as a basic pant block with straight leg and no pleats.

This pic (below) taken after lowering and extending the crotch point 1 cm each direction, it made a huge difference and now the pants just look ‘right’ somehow! The original block crotch point sat at about 1-2cm from ‘the body’. The extended point now sits at about 3-4cm below.

Adding 1cm each to the front and back extension, extends the total crotch curve a total of 2cm loosening it and allowing the fabric to sit away from the body. Obviously, if one’s block was a little loose fitting you could do this in reverse for a closer fitting pant.

And the finished product from a scrap of remnant fabric of unknown origin! Apologies for the scrunched styling – these had been worn all day in 30C with maximum humidity, oy the humidity!!

 

Well, we’ve had quite an adventure this past month. Now all unpacked back into our home in Sydney after an excellent holiday in beeyootiful Canada. We watched an ice hockey game, the highlight of which was not driving more than an hour in each direction on snowy highways cos’ hubs forgot his license, nor was it the ‘game show’ atmosphere with giant bowling pins and pretty girls skidding on plastic discs to crash them down! The real highlight was the fella who sung the national anthem after having introduced new immigrants to the onlooking crowd to a rousing cheer. Families from Nepal, India and Mongolia were brought out onto the ice. Our little family appreciated the subtext. Not so much a “you must be just like us” kind of thing. But more a “welcome” and “isn’t this great, don’t you want to embrace our culture and values while we appreciate your differences” kind of thing. Its hard to pin down the finer points of the pre ice hockey immigration ceremony, but coming from a country struggling with immigration issues (Australia), it was wonderful to see it handled so graciously, Australian sport could learn a lot from the Canadians. Thank you Canada. Like the Governator says, “we’ll be back”!