Colette Clovers

This was the beginning.  My Colette Clover pattern I received a a gift for Christmas and two colors of Bengaline stretch suiting I got on sale at Fabric.com.  Don't ask me what Bengaline stretch suiting is.  I just knew I was supposed to get something with stretch and there wasn't anything else in bright colors like these and it was on sale.

I planned to use one for a muslin and one for the real thing, but I just couldn't decide which color of pants I wanted to end up in my wardrobe and which I was willing to let go until I got the money for more fabric.  I let my husband choose and he chose red for the muslin, so I went to it.

I was at a loss for which size to cut because the measurements from my waist to my hips are quite different.  I also knew there was the distinct possibility I would need a full butt adjustment and a sway back adjustment.  Having NEVER made a muslin before and having NEVER made fitted pants before, it was all pretty daunting, but my excitement overcame my fear and I just jumped in with both feet.

I cut my fabric exactly as the diagram suggested and then realized afterward that the stretch of the fabric was going down the leg of the pants and not across.  (cue hag from Princess Bride dream sequence) Boo!  Boooooo! I knew the stretch should go side to side, but I didn't bother to check because I assumed I should just follow the diagram.  Boooo!

I continued onward, a bit afraid that my whole muslin would really be for naught because I couldn't take the stretch into account with the fit.

Sure enough, it was too small and I couldn't tell if I needed a bigger size or just some stretch.  The butt was super tight and the waistline didn't even hit mine.  I had some serious plumber's crack.  One thing was pretty obvious.  A full-butt adjustment was in order.

I traced the top of the pattern onto some taped together printer paper and looked up the full butt adjustment tutorial Coletterie provides in their Clover sew-along.  I drew the lines in the approximate locations I thought they should be and cut it all up, spread it out some random amounts and taped it all back together.

"This looks ginormous!" was all I could think to myself.  But apparently, my butt is ginormous, because, as you'll see below, I may need to make an even fuller butt adjustment...

I had just enough fabric left to cut out the two back pieces again and this time I cut them with the stretch going across so at least I might have an accurate muslin for my booty.

The next hardest part was the zipper.  As many people as said that Coletterie's tutorial on invisible zips was so incredibly clear and made invisible zips accessible and easy for them.... I still didn't totally grasp it.  I did my best attempt and found out what the bubble effect at the bottom that everyone warned about was.

Enough talk, here's the finished wearable muslin.

Sarai from Colette patterns warns about them looking like leggings and I think mine do a bit in the front. Remember, though that the front pant pieces have no stretch across, only up and down.  So, who knows, maybe when I cut the turquoise pair out correctly, they will be a smidge roomier?

There's all sorts of crazy pulling wrinkly bits, but I'm also blaming this on the totally different grain line from front to back.

See what I mean about possibly needing a fuller butt adjustment?  I'm not really trying to go for the "Please, oh, please squeeze it" look.

And here's some indication that I probably need to go ahead and try the sway back adjustment.  Compared to ready-to-wear pants though.  This baby gap is a big improvement.  It's so difficult for me to buy pants off the rack and I have to remember that when I think about all the things I could tweak on these to make them "perfect."

Those butt darts look like they are hanging on for dear life.  haha!

As a final note, I discovered that Bengaline stretch suiting makes you sound like you're wearing a windsuit from the 80's when you walk.  It is the swishiest fabric.  You wouldn't want to exit the audience in the middle of a mime act while wearing these pants.

I have more pictures to post because hubby was kind enough to do a five-outfit photo shoot with me, so expect more in the coming days!