Contemplating Crotch Curves

I am a blind squirrel with this fitting thing. Occasionally I stumble across an acorn or two.

I have had reasonably good luck with both the Style Arc Linda pants—once I lengthened the rise—and the yoga pants from New Look 6689, which fit nicely right out of the package. I decided to lay them out on top of each other to see if and how they differed.

This is the New Look back pattern piece on top of the Linda back pattern piece.

You can see that the crotch point of the Linda pants extends much further than the crotch point of the New Look pants.

Conversely, look at the New Look front pattern piece on top of the Linda front pattern piece:

The crotch point of the New Look pants extends further than the crotch point of the Linda pants. (It really does, even though it may not look like it in the photo.)

The crotch curve measurements are the same. The only difference is in where the inseam sits at the crotch. After seeing the difference in the pattern pieces, I had a hunch that the inseam of the Linda pants would sit further forward than the inseam of the New Look pants, so I tried on each pair.

I was correct. The inseam of the Linda pants sits about half an inch forward of the inseam on the New Look pants.

Does this matter? I think it does. For one thing, I find the New Look pants to be a bit more comfortable. Comfort aside, though, having the inseam so far forward on those Linda pants is causing some pulling, with the resultant wrinkles at the backs of my legs. The wrinkles are minor—so minor that the pants would be fine even without me messing with the pattern any further—but because I suspect the location of the inseam is causing them, I decided to explore a bit further. One of the reviewers on the sewingpatternreview.com website said she had to move the inseam back because she has a flat butt (as do I) and felt that was a helpful alteration.

Jennifer Stern has a video on her YouTube channel on how to adjust the inseam if it is too far forward. She has two methods: one adjusts the top of the inseam, at the crotch, and the other adjusts the inseam all the way down the leg (or down to the knee, if you prefer). Deciding which method to use depends somewhat on how the inseam hangs on your body.

I have several tasks on my sewing to-do list today, the first of which is to put on the Linda pants and determine if I just need to move the top of the inseam or if I need to move the entire inseam. Then I need to decide if I should make another pair.

Part of me says I should refrain from any further iterations of either of these patterns—or of a frankenpattern combining the two—until I have my private sewing class next week. The focus of that class is going to be on making myself a pants sloper. I think that once I have the sloper, it is going to answer a lot of questions for me, much as the bodice sloper did for the questions I had about making tops.

This poor teacher has no idea that I am coming into this class with a list of questions five miles long, and class is only for two hours.

**************

I stopped in at our Joann Fabrics yesterday. It almost looks like a different store. The apparel racks have been stocked and all of the bolts are neatly organized. I did get some luxurious stretch fleece in a lovely deep lavender color (all the other colors were muddy earth tones 🤮) and I think that might end up being a Toaster Sweater.

I can’t help but think this is a stay of execution until after the holidays. I’ll see what other Joann stores are like on my travels.

**************

I am not going to try to get podcasts recorded and posted while I am traveling. I don’t have a laptop, although I’m kicking around the idea of getting one. My iPad is 6 or 7 years old (at least) and I might need to replace it, too, because it randomly locks me out, requiring me to shut it down and restart it.