The Crotch Template

Kyle had a pediatrician's appointment first thing yesterday morning. Between leaving the house and -finally - dropping him off at school, it took two and a half hours. Good thing it wasn't later in the day.

This doctor has lectured me both for being an under-involved parent and for being an over-involved parent and went as far as to tell me that Kyle will struggle his whole life and it will be my fault even though he has given Kyle inappropriate models. One time when he did so, and when I questioned what he was saying, right in front of Kyle he told me that's not up to you. And then, after negating any authority I might have had, he lectured me on something else I wasn't - in his opinion - doing right. He has no teenagers of his own and no family members with type one diabetes therefore - in my opinion - he has no idea what he's talking about. Theory is vastly different than reality. As I once told him, let's talk when your boys are teenagers.

There's nothing quite like beating up the care giver. Although this doctor was the worst, he is not alone in being abusive. It got so bad at one point that I no longer attend Kyle's doctor's appointments. They had become more than I could handle and, since Kyle is about to graduate and become an adult, he has to start doing this on his own. I now monitor from a distance.

Personally, I'd see a different doctor which is what we've done for the past few years only he has to see this particular doctor in order to go to the outpatient clinic and he has to go to the outpatient clinic for any further training and in order to get his driver's license. It's not a win-win.

ANYWAY... after dropping him off at school, I ran a few errands and came home to sew, which is way more fun than endless waiting. I worked on the Vogue 1186 pants. They fit so well that I checked out the rest of Issey Miyake's patterns. There's one jean-like pattern that I'm considering ordering however...




... if I do, I'll read the instructions through before sewing. I can't believe how complicated Issey or Vogue or whoever made some of the steps in this pattern. Luckily, I read them first and made changes leaving off the pocket, extending the front yoke to eliminate the fly facing, and cutting on the fly extension. These changes resulted in a LOT less bulk.




With the muslin, the crotch depth was slightly too high in the front and way too high in the back. Because I normally do, I had raised the hip depth by 1" which turned out to not be needed. Raising the hip depth also raises the crotch depth. When I traced the larger sized pattern, I did NOT raise the hip depth meaning that right away the crotch depth would be 1" lower than on the muslin. That would have been too low, at least in the front.

In the image above, the lowest curve line is the one for the new pattern size. The next two lines are evenly spaced using the edge of my flexible ruler which is about 3/8". I made the same changes to the back crotch and then compared the previous muslin pattern and the new pattern.



On the front, the highest line was correct and on the back, I opted for the middle line since it's easier to take out more fabric than to put it back. The ruler and the dotted black line show what I anticipated would happen. Below...

... is what really happened. I lay my crotch template on the fabric and marked with chalk where the crotch seam should be and then basted the seam and tried on the pants. The angle worked perfectly first try. The seam was then stitched permanently, stabilized, trimmed, finished, and pressed.

The crotch template was made using a flexible ruler. I placed an elastic part way along, aligned the elastic with my woman's opening, and bent the ruler around my body on both sides. It took on the shape that you see above. That's my shape. I'm high in the front and low in the back with a very definite angle to the crotch.




The shape was then transferred to paper along with back crotch length and front crotch length measurements. It's this template that I used to mark the fabric. I plan to transfer it to a much firmer cardboard for future use since it provides the shape that I need every time.

I could have used the crotch template to alter the pattern before cutting but didn't because - as I said earlier - it's easier to take fabric out than it is to put it back. The shape might be correct however, the fabric factor can play havoc with how high or how low the crotch should be. Stretchier and heavier fabrics hang lower. If the crotch seam hangs too low, I need to be able to move it up. If I've cut the fabric off, there's no room. That's also why I stabilize the seam - to prevent future stretching.




When I traced the larger size, the side seam was widened to one inch. The fabric is a light weight, drapey, denim with a high percentage of lycra. I ended up stitching the seams even wider taking in 1 3/8" on each side instead of 1" which makes the pants narrower than the muslin that was too tight. LOL - that's the fabric factor for you. A pattern is only a guideline. They all need tweaking and fine tuning.

There's the hem and the yoke facing to finish. I plan to wear the pants tonight to the party and/or on Sunday for church so I'll get some finished garment pictures when I'm all dressed up for you to see next week. Hopefully by then my computer is fixed. I'm using my laptop for now but much prefer my desktop.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - having more than one computer to use so I'm not computer-less. Apparently - VBG - I'm just a little bit addicted.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Butter Tarts

I'm such a non-cook that I think it's hilarious whenever I'm asked for a recipe. These are quite yummy. I use purchased tart shells bought in boxes of 120 at Costco. They're slightly sweet. You can make your own shells if you want. I have to for the gluten corn dairy soy free version as well as use a butter substitute. The filling is:

1/2 cup melted butter

2 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 eggs
2 cups raisins

a pinch of salt

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Mix the other ingredients together in a bowl and add to the butter stirring until thoroughly mixed and warmed. (Jessica, this is different than I was doing it before and works better) The juice will be runny. Keep the mixture warm on low and fill shells three-quarters full. Bake 12-14 minutes or until golden brown at 375 degrees farenheit. Makes 24-30 tarts.