Trousers And Shorts: Fitting Tips

Hi readers! 

 Today I'm  doing some fitting on a pair of shorts I 've been working on over the weekend : McCall's 6756

Lately, I've been cutting my patterns a size smaller than the envelope says to, because I don't like a lot of ease. But I could tell this pattern ran smaller just by looking at it so I cut out the recommended size 12. And it was almost too small.
 This pattern actually fit really well without a lot of fiddling, except for the center back, which was riding up. It doesn't have tons of ease like usual. I'm actually sort of shocked my butt didn't fit into them. (I've never been that well endowed in that department.) I guess all those lunges at the gym are working!

I have no idea what the official fitting name is for the problem but let's just say kids in California called it a murphy or a melvin when I was growing up. If you have to tug your pants from behind because they keep creeping up you know you have one. And boy did I get them a lot with those high waisted pants I wore as a kid in the  80's....

Ok I just aded my daughter if she knew what a Melvin was and she looked at me quizzically. I explained to her the meaning and she laughed. " Oh you mean a wedgie!" So from here on out I will refer to it as a wedgie.

So how do you fix the dreaded wedgie?

Since every trouser or shorts pattern is going to be a little different, I would advise you add 1/2 or more, maybe 1 inch would be safer,  to your center back and front crotch seams to allow for letting them out in this area if you need to. It's a shame to cut into some beautiful fabric, sew it up, then find out you  have this problem. If you haven't added any extra like I advise at the seam, you can let it out, only to realize you need more fabric but don't have any left . Such a bummer.

As you can see above I had to let my shorts out a good inch to get rid of the problem.

1. When tracing your pants trace the original stitch line. Your seams will be very wide so you wull be confused where it is if you don't.
2. Sew up your pants and only baste the center back and front center front seams.
3. Try on pants.
4. If they are tugging or riding up let them out in 1/4 inch increments..
5. Keep letting them out until they fit comfortably.
6. If you let them out as much as you can and they are still too wedgied, you can try letting out the side seams.
7. If that still doesn't work then ....hmmm.... next time you need to just add more width to your crotch seams.

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