Doing a cling film pants sloper

Yes, I know it sounds totally insane, but I am out of options regarding pants fitting. I have tried any alteration possible, I have made my own pattern from scratch with a tailor, and still the fit is not spot on. I have excess pooling of fabric on my back thighs no matter what I do. I have been Googling intensively, and came across this post, about the cling film sloper. I Googled more, but only found a handfull posts about this, and none followed up with how it worked out with actual pants made from this kind of sloper – so, I will try this and will follow up 🙂

First I went to the hardware store to get clear tape and cling film – I thought that the narrower cling film used for goods on pallets would be easier to maneuver along my curves than the wider ones used for food. I had no idea how much film to get, so I bought 6 as I didn’t want to run out – I didn’t even use 1! So, I have for my top sloper now as well 🙂 Also I found a few scissors and last but not least, my cooperative husband for all the line marking and wrapping (he was a very good sport, putting up with all my micro management – I wanted this to be spot on in first try!).

So, I tried to stand as straight as possible while my man put the cling film on me, finishing with a layer of clear packing tape for stability. He was very carefull not to stretch the film while putting it on, as to not risk it shrinking when cut of me. I measured my widest point, and using a spirit level he marked my hip line all around my body. We also marked the knee point and center- and side seams.

And when I look at these photos I think that I should have started here: Snapping some bare legged photos of myself. Because it is obvious from these that some wonkiness is going on in the knee area! If you look at the non-wrapped leg you can clearly see some strange angles happening.

So, very carefully I cut the side seam open, my husband helping below the knee. I carefully stepped out of the form, and this is what it looked like:

Before cutting it in front and back, I measured the distance from the hip line to the back knee line, as the distance following the curves of my body will be longer than what I want, which is pants hanging from my hip to the knee. The distance was 37,5 cm/ 14.7″, and the flat measurement is 41 cm/ 16.1″.

I then made a cut at the waist to be able to flatten the pattern pieces. The front didn’t even need this, but the back certainly did, a large dart formed here:

Also, just below my but I had difficulties getting the pieces to lay flat. I had to cut in the side seam, and then it overlapped – this means that when cutting the fabric there cannot be anything here to get it flat, but when on my body I need extra fabric to accommodate for fullness. Hmm. I ended up adding the width back (2 cm) with a long incision on the back – hopefully this works.

Then I compared my actual body to the pattern I have made with the tailor. The front didn’t look too much off (green is the sloper from this wrap). Both patterns are without seam allowance. The cling wrap sloper is without ease, so will be smaller. My sloper is a bit wonky below the knee, but not too much I think.

..But then the back, OMG, no wonder I am having trouble with this pants fitting thing! Green is cling wrap sloper, yellow standard pattern I made with the tailor. I have matched the hip line of the two patterns, and you can see the 2 cm I added that I mentioned before. I can definitely see that I would get pooling on my back thighs! Another thing I can see is that a standard pattern assumes that you have 55% volume in the back, and 45% in the front. I have 58% in the back and 42% in the front. This could also add to the pulling etc.

Next step is sewing this new sloper, I hope to have time in the weekend. I will keep you updated, and link to that post from this 🙂 So excited to see if it will solve my issues!