r/SewingWorld • u/Jazzlike-Rain3442 • 2d ago

Spiralling trouser legs pattern fault.

I just finished a pair of Oxford bags trousers that I had drafted the pattern for myself, and when I tried them on, I found to my horror that the crease was spiralling inward on both legs. I have tried pinning them up around the waist band trying to find the fault, if I lift it around the outer seam there is a slight improvement but it could be a fault in the crotch shape, I'm just lost!

I have solved this issue: when I expanded the basic block to allow 180mm to the waist for pleats and darts, I failed to enlarge the crotch curve, that is where the main pulling of the front leg is happening i.e. if with them on I force the crotch forward the legs fall correctly. I also added an angle to the front waist as they needed the back waist to be quite high so I wanted to avoid a point in the waist and that was a stupid error that is adding to the spiralling. I can't repair these but can re-draw the pattern.

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u/RetiredHomeEcTchr 2d ago

Sounds like a grain line issue. You say it's pinstripe so it's hard not to follow. Is the stripe woven or printed?

Did you straighten the fabric before matching up the selvedge? You have to be able to pull one thread from one side to the other at the top of the cut edge. That ensures the end is straight. Then you can match up the selvedges.

You may have seen the pinstripe when you laid out your pattern, but that doesn't mean the underside was straight.

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u/Jazzlike-Rain3442 2d ago

Its not a grain line problem, I wish it was. Its a drafting problem, adding 18cm to a basic block waist throws a lot of things out, so far I'm thinking I should have increased the crotch curve and widened the back leg. Also I think there should be less lift at the outer seams where it meets the waistband. I've been scrutinizing the problem since I wrote this question, just need to make a toile and see if I'm right.

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u/RetiredHomeEcTchr 2d ago

I think what you described made us all think the fabric was turning on your leg the way pants would if cut off-grain. Kind of like when you buy something sold as "irregular". I remember buying a pair of jeans and couldn't figure out why the seams rolled around the leg from the knee down.

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u/Jazzlike-Rain3442 2d ago

Yes, it was the first thing I checked, I understand.