After my last few blog posts about fitting tips and tricks when drafting pants, I need to show how I actually draft pants. After drawing dozens of patterns, I do have “my method.” If you need to read my other posts about fitting and measurements, here are the links:
- How to measure for pants
- Crease line placement at the crotch to fit your quadriceps
- Crease line place at the hips
The pants I am drafting here are for a relaxed fit, straight leg woven pants for Ryan. The pants will have a 2-inch elastic waistband, so I don’t need to add darts along the waist. I consider this a good pant block to start with since you can always add darts later to make the waist more fitted and adjust the width depending on the fabric and style you are trying to achieve.
Let’s start at the very beginning
Draw a horizontal line at the bottom of your paper. I don’t worry about the length of the line as I go back and make tick marks for the width.
Draw a line perpendicular to your horizontal ankle line. You want to make sure the perpendicular line, which is your crease line, is in the center of your ankle. I usually just draw a long vertical line and don’t worry about length. I’ll mark the distances I need instead of just trying to draw a line 19.5 inches long.
Draw horizontal line at your knee level. Make sure it is centered on the crease line.
If you haven’t already, continue the crease line.
Draw a horizontal line at the crotch level. Depending on your measurements, your horizontal line will not be centered on the crease line.
Continue the crease line.
Draw a horizontal line at the hip level. Remember that the distance from the crease line to the center is the most important for pants fitting.
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