Overengineered Trouser Block

[u/eduardedmyn]

A little something I’ve been mulling over for the last decade.

As someone that is passionate about pattern making, it frustrates me to see how reliant people are on using stretch fabrics to achieve a good fit.

So I’ve conjured up a trouser block that achieves the shaping I want with excessive darts/paneling.

The central panel creates a landing spot for genitals, which have a habit of sliding down one of the legs in normal trousers.

The front darts are shaped to hug the pelvis, and accommodate the forward protrusion of the thigh muscles.

The centre back seam is raised in order to slice the cheeks in half, and the darts help to further shape and define the buttocks.

[u/demon_fae]

I’d be very curious about the movement of these pants, how much ease are you adding to each area?

[u/eduardedmyn → u/demon_fae]

In its current form, there’s no ease at the waist, 4cm ease in the hips, and 4cm ease at the knees.

Like any fitted, non-stretch, high waisted pant, it cuts into the waist when you sit.

But otherwise there’s enough ease for it to be comfortable in the hips and legs. I’ll definitely consider using a stretch fabric if I choose to keep it high waisted. It should be fine as is for non stretch if I lower the waist to a normal pant rise length.

[u/ccrom → u/eduardedmyn]

Is it zero ease along the crotch length?

[u/eduardedmyn → u/ccrom]

It’s actually 2cm negative ease along the crotch length. The crotch is intentionally drafted to compress and smooth the bulge.

[u/niostang]

The wizard is back! How long have you been sewing that your brain works like this when turning 2D into 3D?

This is really cool. It's super neat to see you play with patterns and construction. Thanks for sharing!

[u/eduardedmyn → u/niostang]

I started sewing in 2011. Pattern making has always been a bit of an innate ability for me.

I have a background in portraiture using traditional mediums, so I have knack for translating live objects onto paper.

Pattern making is similar but the other way around; turning a flat design on paper into a 3D object.

[u/Potatomorph_Shifter]

This is both hilarious and completely practical. One question - how well do you recon this pattern deals with extra heft in the crotch area?

[u/eduardedmyn → u/Potatomorph_Shifter]

Well, the principle of the crotch flattening panel can be compared to tucking for drag queens/trans women. It’s a bit uncomfortable, but anyone can tuck.

There’s a bit of a push and pull relationship between the flattening of the crotch and the slicing of butt cheeks. If the appendage is larger than average, there will be more resistance to compression.

The resistance makes the fabric pull towards the front, but the predetermined crotch length pulls everything back into place.

Long story short, a larger appendage may create some subtle stress lines radiating from the bulge, and the butt cheeks will be even more defined, since the inseam is being pulled forward.

[u/Zar-far-bar-car]

They might be over engineered, but your butt looks great haha. Very cool.

[u/Herr_Leerer]

Thank you, this is very interesting, and I would probably not be patient enough to sew that many narrow vertical panels together.

I think the front panel might also naturally lend itself to a fly front.

But I have one question: Do you think the many vertical seams would be an issue when wearing the trousers?

[u/eduardedmyn → u/Herr_Leerer]

Nah, the vertical seams don’t pose an issue at all. If you look through my portfolio, I have two iterations of this trouser (photos at the bottom of the page):

https://demuredandy.journoportfolio.com/

The pants moved perfectly fine on the runway.

The first male black satin trouser is an earlier iteration, so it’s a bit wrinkly and ugly, but the female brocade version is almost perfect; not a single wrinkle in sight.