Sure Fit Designs: Pants Kit - Part 1

On the recommendation of one of my fellow PR members, I bought the pants kit from Sure Fit Designs. It's a drafting system that allows you to develop a range of slopers (depending on what kits you buy) which you can then modify to make a whole raft of different designs. The other use (and this is what got me) was that you can use the slopers to help you fit your commercial patterns to your body. Sold!

Anyway, I did a bit of research and there was a LOT of positive talk about this Sure Fit Designs, particularly with regard to the fit of the pants pattern and the customer service offered by the owner, Glenda Sparling. So I placed an order.  It took a little while for it to get here, but nothing extraordinary when you compare it to other orders coming from America.

In my order, I received the Pants kit, the Dress kit, the Stylus and the Pants that Mix'n'Multiply booklet. I opted to start with the Pants kit, as I'm really keen to develop a reliable pants sloper that I can modify to make a range of different styles.

After watching the relevant videos in the Learning Center, I got my husband to help me take my measurements. The kit comes with a DVD which leads you through the process of drafting the pattern. It's terribly dated, but the information is still good. However, I do best with written instructions so I mainly used the instruction booklet which is quite comprehensive.

I did run into one problem as I was drafting up the pattern. I have a large, tilted waist. When establishing the CF point, you are meant to find the intersection between your waist measurement and your front crotch measurement. Well, mine didn't intersect. That's OK, after confirming with Glenda that I was on the right track, I extended the lines downwards until they did intersect.

After drafting the pattern, I added seam allowances and cut and sewed my first pair of test pants. I have to say, I am impressed. The back is virtually wrinkle free. The front, however, has a big dragline and the legs are swinging inwards.

There are some suggestions in the instruction book about fine-tuning your pants pattern. I think I know what I need to do to these to remove the draglines, but I've just asked Glenda for some advice, just to make sure. I obviously need some hand-holding through this process.