Attwood pants

ISSUE 194 - AN ALTERNATIVE SIDE SEAM FINISH FOR THE ATTWOOD PANTS

THE Q & A SERIES

AN ALTERNATIVE SIDE SEAM FINISH FOR THE ATTWOOD PANTS

Hi Emily,

In the Attwood pants pattern a ‘faux’ fell seam is proposed as an alternative for the outer side seams. I am interested in an alternative seam finish but I have not found an ITF method. Some other tutorials show different methods that differ greatly from each other…

What would be the best for the Atwood pants? Wrong sides together to start or right sides together? Thanks for your help.

Amanda

Paris, France

Hi Amanda,

This is a good question and one we went back and forth on a lot when developing this pattern!

Sewing the inner leg seam on the Attwood pants.

The Attwood pants are made similarly to jeans - the crotch seam is sewn first, rather than the method of constructing each leg separately and then joining the crotch seam in the round. This is because we wanted the crotch seams to be sewed as flat felled seams, as well as the crotch seam. This means that the final seam of assembling the pants is the side seam.

As we say in the instructions, this seam can be a little tricky to sew as a flat felled seam as the legs are already attached at the crotch and inner leg seam. It is not difficult, but it will take patience. If you would prefer an alternate finish, consider a faux flat felled seam, or, if you don’t want to use an overlocker/serger, a French seam is a good option.

When sewing a faux flat felled seam, you will still need to feed the pant leg through the machine, but it is more decorative so it’s not as hard to manage with the small folded edge of the flat felled seam. But if you have a few makes under your belt, give it a go to do the actual flat felled seam, just go nice and slow. If you choose this option, sew the seams with right sides together, rather than wrong sides.

Your question also mentions how many different techniques there are for sewing flat felled seam, and this is true! For the Attwood pants we chose a different approach in comparison to the one we went with for our upcoming jeans pattern as on jeans, traditionally the bulk of the seam is inside the pants, while for the Attwoods as it’s not a traditional pant style, we could do what we liked!

We included the instructions below in the pattern as we know our community love to know “the why” behind the decisions we make.

Flat felled seam finish option for Attwood pants.

There are various ways to sew flat felled seams and we have chosen the method we find

the most straightforward. Flat felled seams can be sewn so that the seam is enclosed on the right side of the garment (Option 1) or on the wrong side of the garment (Option 2).

For the Attwood pants, we used the method that has the enclosed seam on the right side of the pants to make a feature of the flat felled seams. If you would prefer the alternative (enclosed seam on the wrong side of the garment), you can construct them that way. We suggest sewing samples of both options to work out your preference. 

As always, remember this is your garment which means you can do what you like! I like your approach though, I think working out all the different options to decide from is a really good start, and understanding why a finish works in one application and not in another will level up your sewing in the long run.

Happy sewing,

Emily

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS ISSUE

  • The Attwood pants pattern - digital pattern available here.

For more issues of the Q & A series, you can check out the archive here.

WHAT YOU’VE BEEN MAKING

MORE POSTS IN THE SERIES

,

ISSUE 168 - REMOVING PANEL LINES FROM A PATTERN

,

THE Q & A SERIES

HOW TO REMOVE PANEL LINES FROM A PATTERN

On the Acton dress the centre front bodice is not cut on the fold, although the seam is straight and so it could be. I'm wondering if there is any structural purpose to having a seam down the centre front, or whether I could cut on the fold so I don't have to pattern match my tricky fabric.

A

Sydney, Australia

Hi there!

I’ll answer your question specifically, as well as give you some pointers about removing seams in general for anyone else reading along that may have this question in relation to another pattern.

In general, if a seam line is straight, it’s normally fine to remove it.

For example, in our Attwood pants we used a lot of panel lines to create a design feature. The design intention of the different panels allows makers to play with the pattern and use fabric in different ways (like colour blocking or directional prints) to create different looks. When made in a solid colour, the panel lines add a point of difference so that the pants are more than ‘just’ a plain pair of pants. But, the panel lines aren’t a necessary part of the Attwood pants’ ‘constructability’ and can be removed if you want a basic pair of pants with the same fit as the Attwoods.

If you look at the centre seam lines on the Atwood pants you can see they are straight.

HOW TO REMOVE PANEL LINES FROM THE ATTWOOD PANTS PATTERN

Removing the panel lines from the Attwood pants pattern is very straightforward.

Line up the corresponding panel pieces with STITCH LINE (grey line on our patterns) on STITCH LINE. Tape or glue in place. 

Done!

In the case of the Attwood pants, you could even do this to remove the side seams!

In most cases there will be shaping in the side seam, but due to the wide leg and elastic waist of the Attwoods pants pattern, the side seam is almost straight. 

Shown above is the CENTRE FRONT BODICE panel and the SIDE FRONT BODICE panel of the Acton dress pattern.

Shaping is created for the bust through a princess panel. (If you’d like to learn more about princess panels, read this blog post.)

As you can see, although the seam lines on the CENTRE FRONT BODICE (piece 1) are straight, the curve on the SIDE FRONT BODICE (piece 2) is what creates the shaping. We can’t remove this panel line as a result.

However, the CENTRE FRONT SEAM LINE on piece 1 is straight, so it can be removed.

When determining if a seam can be removed, the other things to check for are design details or markings. In this case you can see there is a drill hole on the CENTRE FRONT STITCH LINE.

What is a drill hole?

Drill holes are small holes marked on a pattern. They are used to indicate a dart point or other design feature, such as the location of patch pockets, belt loops or pivot point - any feature that is located in an area where you are unable to notch a seam. They are marked on fabric with chalk or a tailor's tack. You can read more about drill holes here.

In this case the drill hole indicates where you need to stop stitching when joining the CENTRE FRONT BODICE pieces together.

An opening is required to join the bodice to the skirt due to the V shape of this seam line.

The opening in the seam allows flexibility so that both sides of the bodice can be pinned accurately to the skirt. So you can see that this drill hole marking is important to the pattern and needs to be included in any design changes made.

HOW TO REMOVE PANEL LINES FROM THE ACTON DRESS PATTERN

Step 1

To remove the panel line from the CENTRE FRONT BODICE, remove the seam allowance from the centre front seam by cutting along the STITCH LINE. Remember that you still need the drill hole marking.

Alter the cutting instructions so this piece is cut on the fold rather than as a pair.

Step 2

When you cut the piece, mark the drill hole and cut along the fold from the bottom of the piece to the drill hole to create the required opening in the centre front.

And that’s it!

Happy Acton and Attwood sewing!

Emily

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS ISSUE

  • The Attwood pants pattern can be found here.

  • The Acton dress pattern can be found here.

  • How to create princess panels - blog post here.

  • Adding pattern markings to your patterns - blog post here.

For more issues of the Q & A series, you can check out the archive here.

WHAT YOU’VE BEEN MAKING

MORE POSTS IN THE SERIES

Q & A series
Q&A blog header-3.png
MALVERN-CULOTTES-TO-SKIRT-HACK.png
raise-crotch-on-culottes-tutorial.png
,

ISSUE 154 - HOW TO MAKE A FLAT BUTT ADJUSTMENT

,

THE Q & A SERIES

HOW TO DO A FLAT BUTT ADJUSTMENT

Hi Emily, 

I absolutely LOVE the Q&A series!  Finding you and In The Folds has been a game-changer in my sewing journey! 

One question which I'm struggling with finding much information about is how to do a 'flat seat' adjustment. I understand that a wedge needs to be taken out from the back crotch seam, but how is that actually done? 

Appreciate any guidance you can give!

Thanks, Kimi
New Zealand

Hi Kimi!

Thanks for your question! Firstly, because I know this is a question that many people out there will love to get an answer to as well, but also because making clothes that fit is one of the foundations of In the Folds. Nobody wants to spend hours of their time (not to mention the money!) sewing clothes that don’t fit the way you want them to. And the thing is, with a little practice, these skills can quickly become second nature and just another normal part of your sewing process.

With the release of our Attwood pants pattern, it’s also a timely tutorial to cover in case someone decides their Attwood pants need a bit of adjusting. 

However, it’s not quite as simple as removing a wedge from the back crotch seam. In last week’s Behind the Scenes post we discussed why we like to use industrial sewing techniques in our patterns, and I think this is another great example of the difference between professional fitting alterations and those you will find in the home sewing world. 

While you might find that taking a wedge out of the back crotch seam gets the job done, it may cause fit issues in other areas and it will probably affect the finished look of the garment. 

So, here’s a step-by-step tutorial for correcting this issue using professional fitting techniques so you know exactly how to do it! And, if you’re interested in learning more pants fitting techniques, check out our Pants Fitting pattern & Fit Kit.

HOW TO TELL IF YOU NEED A FLAT BUTT ADJUSTMENT

Also known as a baggy butt adjustment, you’ll know you need to make a fit adjustment to your pants because you’ll notice excess fabric in the back of the pants. You could even say that the back may look a little deflated and saggy.

You can check this easily by standing in front of a full length mirror, using another mirror to look at the back of your garment while being worn. Try to avoid using only one mirror to do this because turning your torso to look in the mirror will cause the garment to twist and will not give an accurate representation of the fit.

If the back is baggy and has too much fabric (Image 1), we will pinch out fabric vertically and evenly throughout the back leg and then add in any extra fabric that is needed at the waist.

PREPARE TO MAKE THE ADJUSTMENT

While wearing the garment, roughly pinch out the excess that needs to be removed in the butt area. (Image 2, below). You may need someone to help you do this if you’re trying to fit them on yourself! We’ll remove fabric throughout the whole leg evenly to stop the pattern from skewing. 

Take the toile off and pin out vertically through the whole leg (Image 3), making sure to take an even amount. Unpick side seam at the waist and add in fabric if necessary (Image 4).

IN THE FOLDS PANTS PATTERNS & RESOURCES

HOW TO DO A FLAT BUTT ADJUSTMENT

Step 1

a Draw a line from the top to the bottom of the pattern parallel to the grainline roughly in the middle of the pattern. Make sure to avoid the dart. Let's call this line A.

b Draw another line parallel to line A. The distance between the two should be the amount you'd like to remove from the pattern. Let's call this line B.

Step 2 

Add an 'anchor line' perpendicular to lines A and B. This will help you line up the pattern.

Step 3

Cut through line B completely and overlap, aligning line B with line A. Use the anchor line to help realign the pieces. Tape in place.

Step 4

Taking from the pattern evenly means we've also made the waist and leg measurements smaller, so it's likely you'll need to adjust the pattern to add the amount that you took out through the whole leg back to the waist area only to return the waist measurement to the original. We will spread the amount we are adding to the pattern between the CENTRE BACK and the side seam.

i Record the amount you took from the pattern overall, (see STEP 1 b).

ii Divide the amount from (i) by 2 so we can add it evenly on each side.

a Mark in the distance found in ii, out from the STITCHLINE at both the CB and side seam.

Step 5

Re-draw the side seam and CB seam with smooth lines, joining them back to the waist STITCH LINE (a) and CUT LINE (b). Cut off excess paper. Check all seams are the correct length by 'walking' the pattern pieces, as if you were sewing them together.

I hope this helps you get the fit you’re after, and don’t forget to check out our Pants Fitting pattern and Fit Kit for even more in-depth tutorials just like this one!

Happy sewing,

Emily

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS ISSUE

  • The Attwood pants pattern is the August 2023 project for our Curated by ITF membership, and can be purchased here, or after August by current members in our Past Issues section. More information about the subscription can be found here.

  • The Pants Fitting pattern + Fit Kit was released in 2023 as part of our Pants Sewing series. It is currently only available to members of our Curated by ITF subscription, but will be released soon as a standalone resource in our online shop.

  • Checking patterns: Curved seams - blog post here.

For more issues of the Q & A series, you can check out the archive here.

WHAT YOU’VE BEEN MAKING

MORE POSTS IN THE SERIES

Q & A series
shorten-darlow-pants-tutorial.png
BROAD-BACK-ADJUSTMENT.png
Q&A blog header-5.png