I have had DS for a couple of years now. I began with DS 5, then updated to DS 6 & Fashion Designer. Some time ago, I measured, created a sloper, and printed it. I basted the pants sloper and tried fitting it, but had little success. I gave up at the time due to my lack of time to devote to the project. Now that I have the time to work with this program, I have once again begun. I cut out the sloper bodice, basted it together, and did an initial fitting. The waist of the sloper is approximately 6 inches smaller than my actual waist since I basted the darts closed. The waist darts on the sloper are huge. My question is why would such large darts print on the sloper pattern if by closing them, it creates a much smaller waist? I am sure there is something simple that I am missing, but as I stated, I am just beginning with this program and there is a great deal I have to learn. I will not be concerned if the sloper does not fit me to perfection because I am to a point in my life where I am interested in making such items as darted camp shirts or loose-fitting shirts with interesting details and elastic-waist slacks rather than form-fitting bodices and skirts. I would appreciate a little insight into where I am headed with this if anyone can help. Oh, and I did go back and check my waist measurement. It is correct and even printed as such on the sloper pattern. At first I thought possibly I shouldn't be basting on the blue lines (which is how the waist dart printed), but with the side dart basted on the blue line, the side measurement is on target. I am sure most of you are far beyond the scope of this confusion, but hopefully, there are a couple individuals who are at the very beginning of this process just as I am. Thank you, Josie

The fitted pant waist should be the same as the chart with the two darts per side closed.

Check again that the waist and abdomen numbers are correct.the amount of darting total should equal the amount of difference. 1/2 waist front minus 1/2 abd front and same for back as measured on the waist stitch line. It could be a typo or a misplaced fraction such as 5 1/2 can read 51/2....
failign that send in a problem report which ships the charts with to be reviewed by one of us.
Kaaren

quote:

The fitted pant waist should be the same as the chart with the two darts per side closed.

Check again that the waist and abdomen numbers are correct.the amount of darting total should equal the amount of difference. 1/2 waist front minus 1/2 abd front and same for back as measured on the waist stitch line. It could be a typo or a misplaced fraction such as 5 1/2 can read 51/2....
failign that send in a problem report which ships the charts with to be reviewed by one of us.

Sorry to contradict Kaaren on this one, but a problem report is not likely to help much. Those reports are great to help us see a drafting error in the program that only occurs with some particular mix of measurements, pattern selections, and options.

They are also helpful at tracking down an obviously bad measurement that causes patterns to draft in a distorted fashion.

But, they are not very useful at diagnosing fit problems. What the report will show is a pants pattern drafting to the numbers provided to it. Why those numbers are not the ones you need is less obvious.

The size of the waist darts is (as Kaaren suggested) based on the difference between waist and ab in the front and waist and hip in the back. But, no matter how large the dart is, the lines between the darts (which will make up the finished waistline when you are done), should be exactly the length of the Waist Front and Waist Back numbers that you have entered.

If your pants sloper is too tight at the waist, you should check these various possibilities:

1. Waist front and Waist back are indeed accurate. Do not pull the tape tight. Do measure just where you want your pants waistline to ride. Check for typos in what you have entered for those two numbers.

2. If those numbers are right and it is still too tight, then you should check Ab Depth, Ab Front, Ab Back, Crotch Length Front and Crotch Length Back. If any of those is too low, your pants may be pulled out of position so the waist is not sitting where it should be.

I'm sure that those that help with fit can offer much better direction and I hope they chime in and do so. But, I think that it is unlikely that a problem report will help us pin this down for you.

Good luck and best wishes...

Kaaren and Bob responded to pant waist. Isn't Josie talking about the bodice waist?

quote:

Originally posted by Josephine:
I cut out the sloper bodice, basted it together, and did an initial fitting. The waist of the sloper is approximately 6 inches smaller than my actual waist since I basted the darts closed. The waist darts on the sloper are huge. My question is why would such large darts print on the sloper pattern if by closing them, it creates a much smaller waist? I am sure there is something simple that I am missing, but as I stated, I am just beginning with this program and there is a great deal I have to learn. I will not be concerned if the sloper does not fit me to perfection because I am to a point in my life where I am interested in making such items as darted camp shirts or loose-fitting shirts with interesting details and elastic-waist slacks rather than form-fitting bodices and skirts. I would appreciate a little insight into where I am headed with this if anyone can help. Oh, and I did go back and check my waist measurement. It is correct and even printed as such on the sloper pattern. At first I thought possibly I shouldn't be basting on the blue lines (which is how the waist dart printed), but with the side dart basted on the blue line, the side measurement is on target..... Josie

Thank you for your replies. Yes, it was the bodice waist dart that was very large when it printed. The pants sloper waist fit pretty well when I sewed in those darts. I had printed the sloper pattern in May of 2004. I had not printed a copy of my measurements once they were keyed in so it would be hard to track a wrong turn. Rather than spend a lot of time trying to figure out where I went wrong, I decided to begin anew. I reloaded my measurements, printed a copy of the completed measurement sheet, and printed an entirely new sloper. I am working on getting it together now, but I can already see that the bodice waist dart that printed this time is about one-fourth the size of the one that printed on the original sloper. I will let you know as I progress on this. Thanks to all. Josie

quote:

Thank you for your replies. Yes, it was the bodice waist dart that was very large when it printed. The pants sloper waist fit pretty well when I sewed in those darts.

Very sorry that I mis-answered your original question. There are many measurement issues that can mess up the bodice sloper darts and I would probably need to see the measurement set to give you anything useful.

But since your measurement revisions have led to a better bodice sloper with more reasonable darting, I won't re-answer until you have a new question.

Good luck!