Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Book Review: Pants For Real People

Update:  Okay, so I made a mistake and published three book reviews on the same day. I meant to space these out, but I forgot to go back and check when they were scheduled to publish. Oh well. Enjoi!

This is my favorite of the Palmer/Pletsch books, probably because pants are where my fitting issues are the greatest! This book is a godsend. It's where I start when I think about pants.

I even enjoy the front matter in this book. Chapter 3 has good information on fabric choices. As a beginning sewist, I found it very useful. However, the good stuff really starts in Chapter 6.

Chapter 6 is where you begin the tissue fitting process. The chapter also contains a summary of the common pants alterations. I'm still fuzzy on altering for crotch depth vs. crotch length, but I'll get it eventually.  In Chapter 7, you fit the fabric.

One of the really cool things about the book is that it covers different types of pants including trousers, pull on pants (knit and woven), jumpsuits and jeans. There's also information on pants for men and alterations for weight change:-)  Additionally, there are dedicated chapters for darts; zippers; waistbands; belt loops; pockets; hems and cuffs; and lining and underlining. There's even information on proper pressing.

I find the examples of fitting real people aren't that useful. They are before and after shots of models in unaltered and altered tissue and fabric. I would rather have close-ups of the tissue alterations, like in The Perfect Fit: The Classic Guide to Altering Patterns.

This is a very comprehensive book on pants fitting, alterations and construction.  It's a must-have is you have any issues with pants. It's well worth the purchase price.




No comments: