Thoughts on the SewLiberated Pinyon pants release
Design and fit discussion in the sewing community
SewLiberated, a popular indie pattern company released a new pants pattern, the Pinyon pants. The release prompted some interesting discussion in the sewing community about fit and sizing. These conversations reflect some of the contemporary challenges for indie pattern companies.
Pinyon pants pattern sizing and information
This pattern is released with inclusive size range that reflects the current standard the sewing community expects for a pattern release: a size range from hip 33½ to 61 inches, and you get all the sizes included with the pattern purchase.
Photos show the garment on 3 different bodies.
Now, it transpired that there were more pattern adjustments for the version on the plus sized model than the other versions which had no, or minimal modifications. Indeed the look of the pants on the plus sized model is slightly different.
This prompted an online debate as to whether:
(1) The “out of the envelope” look is intrinsically different for people with plus sized dimensions, or
(2) Perhaps plus sized individuals need more modifications for fit with this pattern suggesting inadequate grading and testing.
Both these possibilities speak to concerns in the sewing community about the availability of patterns in an inclusive size range, and also some skepticism as to whether the quality of patterns with an “extended” size range matches that of the “standard” size range.
What can consumers expect?
Clearly size expansion and inclusivity that presents challenges for indie pattern companies. Many of them rely on established textbooks for sizing and grading, essentially sharing what they learned in fashion school. For the most part, these textbooks and fashion education does not address a size beyond a 48 inch hips Or companies use commercial services to grade patterns according to standard RTW criteria, which again excludes larger bodies. Paper patterns are created by people trained in the fashion industry and the biases inherent to the fashion industry are reflected in the patterns. It is not perhaps surprising that it is uncommon to see a pants pattern that is both a wonderful design and offered in a size inclusive range together with grading that gives a decent fit and the same style out of the envelope. Quite often, even when companies offer patterns in an inclusive size range, it is just as much work for people at both the top and bottom end of the size range to get a good fit as having to start with a pattern for a body several sizes smaller/larger to begin with. Which brings the conversation right back to fitting skills. There is no substitute for learning to fit.
Pinyon pants and fit adjustments
Let’s look at the company’s fashion photography:
The original blog post provided details about the dimensions of the models, the size they are wearing together with the pattern alterations involved in fitting. Kudos to SewLiberated for sharing this information. Sharing accurate sizing information to complement the fashion images should be routine and let’s hope more companies adopt this practice.
From L to R:
Meredith is 5’4″ with a 27″ waist and 35″ hips. She wears a size 2 with the back darts shortened by about 1″.
Ashley is 5’10” with a 46″ waist and 59″ hips. She wears a size 32 with the front crotch curve lengthed by 1 1/2″ and zeroed to the back, and the back crotch curve scooped an inch deeper. The side leg seam was angled out by about 2″.
Meg is 5’3″ with a 28″ waist and 37″ hips. She wears a size 4.
Fashion photographs and fit assessment
Next I will discuss some of the adjustments and how explain how they relate to the fit and visual appearance. These are “scooping the back crotch curve” and “ease in the hips”. The last topic is pocket dimensions and placement.
“Scooping the back crotch curve”
“Scooping” is a popular adjustment that is often recommended as a fix for a variety of pant fitting issues1. “Scooping” means some type of shaping modification to a curved seam like the crotch seam but the term is imprecise.