This book has a lot of pictures and drawings that help understand some issues we can meet while fitting trousers. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for me to have a good pair of trousers!

I think it was this pants book....it had a really helpful diagram for drafting a curved waistband. I didn't end up needing it, but it was good reference.

Useful book for learning how to alter pant patterns to sew pants that fit your body shape.

For a book that cover other types of clothing patterns see The Perfect Fit (Singer Sewing Reference Library).

This is another must-have book on your sewing reference shelf. Fitting trousers is challenging and perfecting fit is even more challenging. Pants for Real People is full of fitting information for people of all shapes and sizes.

An extremely thorough reference book. Detailed fitting instructions, include how to identify problems with fitting (i.e. what they look like). I bought it after reading a library copy so I could always have it on hand.

good to know that very slim petite women are not real people, but i didn’t really want to make 90s mom pants anyway i guess

i know that’s unnecessarily snarky but where’s the guide to fitting tiny mod pants for tiny mod ladies? ARE SMALL PEOPLE WHO WANT TO DRESS LIKE IT’S 1958 NOT DESERVING OF PANT FITTING GUIDANCE?! Someday my fave glad-i-stopped-by-this-random-souvenir-shop-in-little-tokyo-on-the-way-from-picking-up-ghost-town-at-tower-records-to-seeing-the-go-go’s-at-madame-wong’s trousers will give out (i know, those are early 80s references, but the trousers themselves are early 60s but i think early 60s people wore them for like ? sukiyaki parties ? and early 80s people found them in the back of the store and wore them to be photographed by ann summa and early 00s people maybe didn’t care that much because early 20s people (me) were able to buy three pairs a few years ago and wear them all the time) and i would like to be prepared, and also to stop feeling like

The language of the book is sorely outdated, but the fitting advice is solid.

OMG! This book changed my life. The techniques described will allow even a novice sew-er to make perfect fitting pants. I even used the techniques to alter skirts. I highly recommend to anyone who makes their own clothes.

I'm DNF'ing this because a) the whole concept of tissue fitting makes my brain hurt a little, and b)
I hate the way they talk about bodies. I'm really hoping that Jenny Rushmore's Ahead of the Curve will be a bit more straightforward and body neutral when it comes out next month.

I wish they'd do an update that includes some more current styles. Or maybe a supplement.

Yes, the styles are dated. They managed to make their two young women models look 15 years older by putting them in those "slacks". I was also amused that half of "real people", men, got a rather brief afterthought chapter, and that the only fit issues they address are flat butt and "bay window" (wtf? we call it a beer gut, and nobody I asked had ever heard the term "bay window"). To say that men do not have other pant fitting issues just reveals their slant toward a particular demographic. Sure, if most patterns and RTW are drafted for younger, slimmer women, then older women will encounter fit problems, and this book certainly serves that demographic well. But go on a bodybuilding or powerlifting forum, and you'll see multiple discussions of pants being too tight in the thigh and butt, or calves. I mean, I can reason my way to how one would fix this (use larger size, take them in at the waist) but it's something that a less experienced seamstress would benefit from seeing pointed out.

Also, while the jean sewing instructions are actually pretty good, I was appalled by how ugly their light blue sample was.

The fitting tips are actually quite useful. Even if you do not come away with a full grasp of how to read every wrinkle and how to solve every problem, this book gives you a toolkit for addressing the problems through trial and error. Many people lose their wits at the point where tissue fitting is discussed. You could certainly skip that step and proceed to a muslin fitting instead. They use a particular system, and it is designed for using their own Palmer-Pletsch patterns, which work fine with it. If you're trying to glean how to fit pants you drafted yourself, say, you can still use their general approach:

1. Use large seam allowances;
2. Pin-fit before you do any stitching;
3. Adjustments at the waistline--namely, yank the pants up or down and adjust the seamline accordingly--are some of the easiest to try, and they should be attempted before messing with the crotch curve.

I wish there was a bit more discussion and examples of fitting pants that are not "1989 office slacks from JC Penney". Some of the frustrations I used to have with pants is that the leg shapes were often off, and it's taken me a while to train my eye for how to fix those problems. But I guess the solution is to just use my head and not hope to find the answer in a book.

I appreciated the section on jumpsuits. Funny how they say a bodice is more difficult to adjust than pants; I think most people would disagree! There are far more resources out there for bodice fitting, it seems, than pants. But they are right.

About a third of the book is dedicated to sewing instructions for various kinds of pockets and styling details. This was of little use to me as there was little that was truly new there, but a less experienced seamstress would probably find it useful to read the whole thing. Much of the value of reading a book, rather than poking around on your own on the internet, is that you will be exposed to a unified approach and learn about things that are out there that you wouldn't have even known to search for before.

The datedness of the book comes through again in the sewing section. They recommend an interfacing called Perfect Waistbands, which does not seem to be available for sale anymore.

Overall, though, I think it would be a mistake to dismiss this book just because certain aspects of it have not aged well. I do not regret reading it.

Very clear and informative, but unfortunately I don't think this fitting technique will work for me (sewing alone) as well as drafting flat pattern changes, which are not addressed here.