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I'm giving this a tentative rating of 3 stars, seeing as I have yet to make a pair of pants using the techniques in this book.
The good:
- It has lots of information on how to decode wrinkles and a wealth of pictures showing what they mean. My pastime has now become analyzing other people's pants and trying to figure out where they need alterations.
- No gimmicks. The crotch is the hardest part of pants to fit. Pati and Maria have a section covering the various techniques they've tried to perfect crotch fitting (such as the weighted measuring tape with dongle) but ultimately their technique comes down to: are there wrinkles or not? This makes sense to me more than wrapping foil around your cooch, or drawing a million lines across your butt and trying to get them all to intersect just so.
- Easy alterations. Half the fit problems in this book are solved by simply yanking up the waistband at various points and drawing a new waistline. Fabric pooling at darts ends? Yank it. Smile lines? Yank it (then let out the crotch seam.) Lopsided? Yank it! It was really amazing to me how simple and effective this technique is. Draping on the body has always been a much more agreeable way for me to figure out fit than using a lot of measurements and geometry.
- Good information regarding the ease changes for various styles of pants. I did not know about jean's crotches being close fitting as to avoid saddle sores, for instance.
- Lots of little tips on things from fabric choice to how to style your body proportionately.
The bad:
- Emphasis on one kind of pant style. This is bad for two reasons: 1) They fit the same style of pant over and over, only really deviating once with a pair of stretch pants; 2) It's an extremely dated style of pant that tries really hard to hide a woman's butt. Modern pant trends are more slim fit.
- Emphasis on tissue fitting (related to pants style.) The butt camouflaging pants hang straight down from the largest part of the body (butt or tummy) to the floor. This makes for a wide legged pant with minimal tapering (it kind of makes you look like an ice cream cone.) I wonder how you're supposed to tissue fit a modern pant is shaped to your body. I don't think it would work due to tissue having no drape or stretch.
- Emphasis on one kind of shape. Nearly all of the ladies in this book are on the larger side and extremely pear or apple shaped. Women who aren't won't get to see many of they alterations they might need. It would've been nice if there were more diversity in age and weight, because as the book points out, our bodies tend to change in shape and size as we get older.
The good:
- It has lots of information on how to decode wrinkles and a wealth of pictures showing what they mean. My pastime has now become analyzing other people's pants and trying to figure out where they need alterations.
- No gimmicks. The crotch is the hardest part of pants to fit. Pati and Maria have a section covering the various techniques they've tried to perfect crotch fitting (such as the weighted measuring tape with dongle) but ultimately their technique comes down to: are there wrinkles or not? This makes sense to me more than wrapping foil around your cooch, or drawing a million lines across your butt and trying to get them all to intersect just so.
- Easy alterations. Half the fit problems in this book are solved by simply yanking up the waistband at various points and drawing a new waistline. Fabric pooling at darts ends? Yank it. Smile lines? Yank it (then let out the crotch seam.) Lopsided? Yank it! It was really amazing to me how simple and effective this technique is. Draping on the body has always been a much more agreeable way for me to figure out fit than using a lot of measurements and geometry.
- Good information regarding the ease changes for various styles of pants. I did not know about jean's crotches being close fitting as to avoid saddle sores, for instance.
- Lots of little tips on things from fabric choice to how to style your body proportionately.
The bad:
- Emphasis on one kind of pant style. This is bad for two reasons: 1) They fit the same style of pant over and over, only really deviating once with a pair of stretch pants; 2) It's an extremely dated style of pant that tries really hard to hide a woman's butt. Modern pant trends are more slim fit.
- Emphasis on tissue fitting (related to pants style.) The butt camouflaging pants hang straight down from the largest part of the body (butt or tummy) to the floor. This makes for a wide legged pant with minimal tapering (it kind of makes you look like an ice cream cone.) I wonder how you're supposed to tissue fit a modern pant is shaped to your body. I don't think it would work due to tissue having no drape or stretch.
- Emphasis on one kind of shape. Nearly all of the ladies in this book are on the larger side and extremely pear or apple shaped. Women who aren't won't get to see many of they alterations they might need. It would've been nice if there were more diversity in age and weight, because as the book points out, our bodies tend to change in shape and size as we get older.