Large or Small Waist Adjustment

This is the first in a series of posts I have planned for this week all on different fitting adjustments you can use for the Clover sewalong, or for nearly any other pair of pants you make!

Fitting notes:

• After you’ve made your muslin, please refer to the pants fitting cheatsheet to help you decide which adjustments to try.
• Use your muslin to determine how much to adjust the pattern. For example, if you can see that you need an extra inch of width in a certain area, you’ll need to add an inch of width when adjusting your pattern.
• Refer to this post on making muslins for further help with this.
• Be sure to make a second muslin (and perhaps more) after you’ve adjusted your pattern.

How to use the fitting diagrams:

• You will want to trace a copy of your pattern. Not a big deal, since this pattern has only a few pieces, and it will save you from ruining your pattern.
• Mark your seamlines on the pattern (5/8″ from the edge). You don’t need to mark it over the whole pattern, but at least mark the seam at the points where the slash lines are. On the diagrams, the seamlines are marked with dashed lines.
• The diagrams show where to cut, spread, and overlap your pattern.
• You’ll notice little circles in some spots, where the slash lines intersect the seam line. This is called a “pivot point.” Don’t slash the pattern all the way to the edge, but instead slash just to where this circle is. Then carefully snip into the seam allowance, forming a little hinge where the circle is. When you adjust your pattern, you’ll be pivoting at this point rather than from the very edge.
• Once you have your pieces adjusted, tape them into place. You can then retrace the pattern piece if you like.

Further help:

I’d love to help you as much as possible, but please realize there are a lot of you and only one of me. Please be sure to help each other out in the Flickr group as much as you can, and check out the fitting section of our Amazon store for further research.

Adjusting for a large waist

1. Draw in the hip line on your pattern front (the grey line in fig. 1). We’re only showing the front here, but you want to do both front and back.

2. Draw the lines shown in fig. 2.

3. Cut the pattern along these lines. Note the circles, which indicate where you will pivot the pattern. Cut a hinge here in the seam allowance rather than cutting all the way through to the edge (see notes above).

4. Spread and overlap the pattern as shown in fig. 3. You want to add extra width to the waist at the seamline.

5. Draw a line parallel to the center front on the front waistband, and the center back on the back waistband (fig. 4).

6. Cut along this line and spread the pieces the same amount that you did in step 4.

Adjusting for a small waist

1. Draw in the hip line on your pattern front (the grey line in fig. 1). We’re only showing the front here, but you want to do both front and back.

2. Draw the lines shown in fig. 2.

3. Cut the pattern along these lines. Note the circles, which indicate where you will pivot the pattern. Cut a hinge here in the seam allowance rather than cutting all the way through to the edge (see notes above).

4. Spread and overlap the pattern as shown in fig. 3. You want to remove width at the waist right at the seamline. (Note that it looks like the waistline doesn’t line up in the diagram. That’s just so you can see that they’re overlapping, you should try to get them nice and lined up.)

5. Draw a line parallel to the center front on the front waistband, and the center back on the back waistband (fig. 4).

6. Cut along this line and overlap the pieces the same amount that you did in step 4.