Michelle over at Cheap and Picky is onto something. She has a tutorial on how to copy your favorite slacks pattern with Painter's Tape and it really works. Last weekend at my sister's in Mansfield, OH I copied my favorite RTW slacks and I couldn't be happier. This morning I stitched up a muslin (well the correct name would be toile since the fabric isn't muslin) and I love them. I think I might need to tweak the back crotch a bit but it's closest than I've ever gotten on slacks on the first try. One thing that really surprised is now shallow both my front and back crotch curves are. The only thing that I did differently than the tutorial is I placed tape on either side of the darts of the RTW slacks leaving a small area without tape on it. Once I placed them on my tissue, I slit the pattern and spread it open as much as I though was necessary to accommodate a dart. It worked like a charm and the darts are perfectly placed.
One roll of the Painter's Tape will couple 2-3 pairs of slacks. This pair is so comfortable I may have to turn them into a wearable muslin! Just need to hem and add the zipper and waistband. Of course I have enough fabric in my stash that I don't really need to do that. I can just imagine how great these would look had I put on a control top garment!
