Well, I have just made something I am really excited about...the first thing with DS that has turned out fabulously in fact. The cap sleeve reglan...I bought some very lightweight small plaid, 100% cotton...almost a gauzy consistency for $1.00 a yard at Walmart. I decided to use the cheapest fabric I could find since I have not had great luck so far...well let me tell you...this is GREAT! It fits perfectly, hangs perfectly, is soooo comfy and I am now going to make a skirt to match. I bought 10 yards at that price! If you have not used this pattern...it can be sewn up in about 40 minutes including all finishing. Michelle in Texsas

Michelle well done,success is really good when your pleased with the efforts.

quote:

Originally posted by Michelle:
Well, I have just made something I am really excited about...the first thing with DS that has turned out fabulously in fact. The cap sleeve reglan...and I am now going to make a skirt to match.

Michelle, great going! You *are* going to share photo of the finished outfit with us, aren't you? :-)

Okay, the skirt did not turn out so well. I used the straight skirt pattern, no darts, elastic casing. Unfortunately my ftw front is lower than the sides or back and I should have strightened it out...the elastic pulls the whole thing up around my waist and so the hem is very uneven in the front. Live and learn.

quote:

Originally posted by Michelle:
Okay, the skirt did not turn out so well. I used the straight skirt pattern, no darts, elastic casing. Unfortunately my ftw front is lower than the sides or back and I should have strightened it out...the elastic pulls the whole thing up around my waist and so the hem is very uneven in the front. Live and learn.

Michelle,
Something is telling me that it is not the elastic waist that is causing the problem you are describing. I think it could be the amount of ease around the ab or hip area. Did you use the standard ease? When I change my skirt pattern to casual or comfort, I get more ease around the hips and ab. If this was tight in this area, then it could cause it to bunch at the waist.

Also, by the skirt drafting the way you describe, it eliminates the side seam from not hanging perpendicular to your body. Maybe you wear your skirts at a different angle on the waist than you wear your pants. I know I do. So it could be the way you are wearing your skirt that caused it also.

This is my thinking out loud thoughts, but there is more to this than what you describe. I hope others chime in and if you don't mind, post a photo on Kaaren's club page. Then we can look at how it hangs off you and see if we can help.

If we solve the problem with this skirt, I believe it will greatly help you going forward.
Linda Flint

Thanks for your reply, Linda. It is really very easy to see why this happened. When you look at my front pattern the cfw is 2 inches lower than the side...which it has to be in pants. Since I used an elastic waist in the skirt, it kind of hiked up over my tummy mound and stayed there, hiking up the hem of the skirt in front...being a plaid it really shows. No big loss, some time and 1.00 a yard fabric, piece of elastic...and a VALUABLE lesson...I normally don't like elastic waists anyway but I wanted a quick and easy skirt to wear under the cap raglan that I used, which, by the way, the next time I make it I will take out all ease also. It seems that whenever I leave in any ease..meaning if I dont go to the fit tool and check the top one...the item is always too big. Anyone else have this problem? But next time it will be very simple to simply staighten out that plane during pattern prep.

quote:

Originally posted by Michelle:
Thanks for your reply, Linda. It is really very easy to see why this happened. When you look at my front pattern the cfw is 2 inches lower than the side...which it has to be in pants. Since I used an elastic waist in the skirt, it kind of hiked up over my tummy mound and stayed there, hiking up the hem of the skirt in front...being a plaid it really shows.

Hi Michelle,
I think what this neans is that you wear your skirts different than you wear your pants. With skirts you wear them around your body without that 2" tilt. Put the skirt back on and measure that new FTW conformed spot for skirts where it wants to sit in the front. Create a new measurement chart with that FTW conformed amount and call it skirts. Make another one and see if that helps.

I think for some figures that skirts will naturally sit in a different spot than pants because there is nothng between the legs to keep the waistline from moving around, and this would be an interesting experiment to see if this works for you.

Maybe Kaaren or others can chime in with their fitting experiences, but it sounds to me like all you have to do is give the program the FTW conformed number that correlates with where spot where that skirt wanted to sit on your body.
HTH,
Linda