Peggy Sagers: As tennis champion Serena Williams once said, "My mom taught me to sew when I was super-young.

I used to make clothes for my dolls.

When I finally went to fashion design school in 1999, I really took to pattern-making.

Everyone in class was good at something.

I was the person if you need help with your patterns, you come to me and I would help you out," end quote.

Like Serena's classmates, many of us need help with patterns.

Today on "Fit 2 Stitch," we learn patterns and rules that are constant and make patterns easy and fun.

♪♪ ♪♪ male announcer: "Fit 2 Stitch" is made possible by Kai Scissors.

♪♪ announcer: Plano Sewing Center.

♪♪ announcer: Elliott Berman Textiles.

♪♪ announcer: Bennos Buttons.

♪♪ announcer: Imitation of Life.

♪♪ announcer: And Clutch Nails.

♪♪ Peggy: So today we talk pants and we're gonna do this so clearly that you will walk away and always understand every problem and how to fix it.

That's my goal.

I find pants to be so easy that when I have sewers who I think should begin to sew, I always throw 'em to pants and some people say, "No, no, those are way too hard," but let's make 'em really, really simple for you.

So I'm gonna go back.

On a few shows ago, we had an analogy where we took a pillowcase and we put it onto a mannequin and what we learned about the pillowcase was that there were some things that had to be changed for it to look good on a body such as ours.

And in a recent show we just learned how to take a template and how to make an armhole.

And remember, we just take that template and we put it between two points and we can make an armhole.

And remember, we already have that perfect sleeve and once we have an armhole and we have that perfect sleeve, we're set to go.

So I want you to understand that there are certain things, as we talk about length, circumference, and depth, that we need to be aware of.

So the first thing is length and obviously, that's the bust area and then the waist.

The second thing is circumference and I chose a pillowcase that was enough to go around her although maybe a little bit more, and so what we know about the side seam is the side seam is actually a dart.

There are two angled lines that come together.

So we're gonna pin them in to where they are two angled lines that come together.

Now, I'm only gonna do one side of this because I know you understand it and I've got lots I wanna teach you.

So, two angled lines that come together are what we know to be a side seam.

All right, then the next thing we're gonna do is we have an armhole, we have a sleeve, is we see wrinkles and lines that we can get rid of, and those are gonna be depth issues because circumference won't fix them, length won't fix them.

We've already gone over those two.

So we're gonna use a little bit of darting.

And what we know is the shoulder seam is a dart.

And by definition of a dart, a dart is when two angled lines or two converging lines come together.

There's only two types of lines in the universe: either parallel or converging.

So when we're dealing with circumference, we're dealing with parallel.

When we're dealing with length, we're dealing with parallel.

But now, that we deal with depth, we're dealing with converging lines.

A shoulder seam is a converging line.

A front dart here is a converging line.

And this is even one that stops in the middle of the garment, and we know that once those do that, we actually stitch them.

There's no way to build them into the garment, because they have to be where they are.

They have to be at certain intervals throughout the garment.

And then when we decide to do a little bust dart over here, and we know there's a few rules that govern that bust dart, we-- really, this pillowcase really starts to take on a whole different look.

And it looks pretty darn good.

Even in the back, we always wanna have these waist darts, and the rules of these waist darts are they're just 4 inches from center front or center back, and they go from, basically, the shoulder blade, there's no exact point, into the waist.

And we can see that that really creates a beautiful effect.

But now we go to pants.

And pants are actually created from the skirt.

So, in this case, I'm gonna use another pillowcase and this time we're gonna take the pillowcase and we're gonna create some pants with this pillowcase.

Now, if you really understand pants, what you'll recognize is the first thing we have to do before we create pants, is to create a skirt.

And the only reason I'm doing this is not because you actually have to go through this process, but you do have to understand the differences of the process.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to tie this pillowcase on.

You can use elastic, whatever works for you, and you're going to tie this on to where it's comfortable where you want your pants to be.

Doesn't have to be at your waist.

If you like 'em below your waist, it doesn't matter.

It's wherever you want them to be comfortable.

And when you put this on and you manipulate it, what you're going to do is watch the hem of the skirt because the waist is crooked, we all know everybody's waist is crooked, but we want the fabric to be as crooked as your waist is, and then everybody will look straight.

So we're gonna make this crooked, until the pillowcase at the bottom, until the hem, you can see, looks straight, and there's three things we're actually going to pick up on the skirt.

And those three things are the circumference again, just like we did, so basically, that's when you're picking out your pillowcase size, right?

You're picking out your size.

If I get to this point and I picked a king pillowcase and my king pillowcase is too big around, I'm not gonna keep going.

I'm gonna go to a queen pillowcase, I'm gonna go to a different size.

So, many of us in our effort to kind of save time, we just say, "Oh, I'll just take in the side seams," but what we don't understand is the pattern grades, or changes, on a pair of pants, it changes not just at the side seams, it actually changes in the middle as well.

It changes in the leg on both sides.

So, on a skirt, it would be okay but, because we're taking this skirt and going into a pair of pants, I don't want us to do that.

I actually want us to change sizes and go down until we get the closest size possible to the size we're going to be.

Also, in a skirt, there's darts, just like we had, and those rules for those darts are exactly the same.

They are 4 inches from center front on the base size and then they taper to nothing, all right?

So we'll drape in a few darts.

And what we don't--what we know about the darts is we don't want all of this in one place, and the reason we don't want it all at one place, we want-- we don't want to take out all the difference in one place, is because the fabric itself has to be straight, and when we take fabric and put it too much at an angle, it's called bias and it loses stability.

So if we took all the difference out of one place, it would lose stability around the waist, where little tiny increments are closer to actually how our body changes, and you'll find that it will actually keep the fabric more stable, and then of course, when we're dealing with stripes or plaids, they also look better as those increments are in smaller amounts, rather than being in large clumps in one place.

Okay, so that what we're looking for in the skirt, now, are gonna be those three things.

Let's repeat those, just in case I didn't say them or we missed them.

They are the shape of the waist, they are the shape of the hip, and they are the circumference, the size itself.

So the size of the pillowcase, queen, king, whatever, twin, baby; they are the shape of the waist; and they are the shape of this hip.

So I'm gonna pause and go back to the pattern for just a minute 'cause I wanna make sure we understand that those three things belong to the skirt, even though we are going to incorporate them into our pants.

And when we take that skirt off, we lay the French curve down on our tissue and we have numbers there.

And if we recognize that our French curve is a measuring tool, and it has a number at the waist and a number at the hip, and all we have to do is learn that number.

It's always the same in the front and the back because the two sides sew together.

They can't be a different shape in the back than they are in the front 'cause it's not back and front, it's side.

So, once I have that number, I can actually repeat that number on anything that goes below my waist.

It could be my skirt, it could be my jacket, it could be my pants.

That number is actually really genetic.

It's not related to size at all, and so once I have it, I want to preserve it because even if I lose weight or gain weight, it's going to stay that same shape.

All right, then I learned the shape of the waist.

And the shape of the waist also follows a French curve, and again, I can learn what those numbers are, and I can learn that shaping.

And that shaping is not limited to straight or anything anybody told you it ever has to be.

It can be whatever I want it to be.

I want to talk about one variable.

That is sometimes I've had women say to me, "Well, my--one side of my rear end is bigger than the other side of my rear end."

And so, when that happens, that's a circumference issue.

It's no different than if one bust is larger than the other breast, and sometimes that happens with chemotherapy, you know, all kinds of things.

So, if that's the case, what will happen is this center back seam will not be at center back.

It will be shifted to one side or the other.

So, instead of having equal pieces when you divide that circumference, you're gonna give more to one side than you are to the other.

So we're gonna recognize that's a circumference issue and it doesn't just do it in pants.

It would do it in skirts, it would do it in everything.

So we want to correct that.

That's a circumference issue, and let's not--we don't want to attribute that to actually pants itself.

Okay, so those three items, remember, shape of the waist, shape of the hip, and circumference, those all belong to our skirt.

But now we're gonna make pants.

And the first thing we're gonna recognize is we're gonna make, really, just two changes.

And I'm gonna cut up.

And I'm gonna cut up to a point where I can put this yardstick in between her crotch and I'm gonna call that crotch depth.

Remember that crotch depth can only go up or down.

I can only cut up farther or I cut up too far.

I did one of those two things.

But crotch depth, the reason it's confusing is the terminology is a little bit backwards.

These are only two words and they are backwards and we're gonna get 'em right.

This is the length of the body, just like we had neck to bust, bust to waist, waist to crotch.

That is a length issue.

And we know it's a length issue 'cause it can only go up or down.

The problem is, it's called crotch depth.

So, it's when we sit down on a chair and we measure from our waist to the chair, you don't have to measure it, you can feel where it is, you only have one crotch, it's not a front and a back.

It's only one crotch.

So, and when that happens with a skirt, what we do is we add an extension in here, so that it will actually go to the back.

It'll actually go enough to reach the back.

Then the second measurement that we're gonna worry about today is we're actually gonna measure how much we need, or how wide the body is.

So how long it is from this point to the back, to this additional piece we have in the back.

We're gonna measure that and we're gonna actually create what's called the crotch length.

But it's the depth of the body.

It's the depth of the body that we recognize that we need it to go from the tummy, through the legs, and to the back.

So, let's look at a pattern on the table now for a minute.

Okay, so I'm gonna put these together.

One is front, one is back, just so it's a little easier for us to understand.

Remember that when we took the yardstick, and we put it in the crotch, that's where it was.

And the distance from the yardstick up to the top is the length of the body; that's called crotch depth.

As we take this around here, then what we see is that is the depth of the body, but it's called crotch length.

All right, so all we gotta do is practice that ten times, say those words.

What I wanna do is just drape something now so you can actually start to see it in action and see, okay, which one's wrong, which one's right, and how do I need to-- where do I start?

So remember, when we drape, we're always gonna start with LCD, length.

So what you see here in this pant, because the circumference is so big, it hangs down, it's too low.

So when I'm putting on a pair of pants, I'm the one who decides where the crotch is going to go, so I'm gonna pull this up on yourself until you know the crotch is right and then I'm going to put in and correct the circumference because the circumference, when it comes to pants, has some impact, one on the other.

So, again, because I'm doing this, let's say if this were a muslin, and that muslin you know is just kind of that pre-made sample to see whether it works or not.

In this particular case, I would not try to alter this pair of pants because I'm taking in a good inch each side.

I would recommend that you remake the pants and, obviously, I wouldn't remake these pants but you understand that I would really encourage you to make that muslin.

Keep in mind that once I have that muslin and once it's on a piece of cloth, I can use it to compare it to every pattern thereafter.

And I can see exactly where it's right and where it's wrong and I'll show you that in a minute, what to look for.

All right, so here I have the circumference right.

I'm happy with where it is, I know that the crotch is where it's supposed to be, that's crotch depth.

My crotch depth is okay.

I'm gonna turn it around and we're gonna check to see how the length is.

Now, remember, the length in the pillowcases was where I added those two pieces in to come in between the crotch.

It doesn't matter how that additional length is added, front to back.

As long as the total circumference is okay, it works just fine.

However, manufacturers typically, as we saw in the pattern on the table, will make the front crotch much shorter and the back much longer, and the reason that is done is because most of your problems won't show in the front, they'll show in the back.

And when women go and buy pants, or men, they stand and look in the mirror and say, "Hey, this looks great."

But they don't see the back, and they don't see how excessive that length actually is and how baggy it is in the back, which is exactly what this is doing.

You can see all that extra is hanging down.

So if we correct that, and we take up a little pinch right here at the hip line, then we can actually get that stripe to lay straight and this is a dart.

It's widest point is at center back, and it tapers all the way to the side.

And it has to do that so that our pattern will actually lay flat.

And remember, this is called flat pattern.

My cloth is flat, my pattern has to be flat, so that I can actually deal with it.

And you notice when I do that, it actually picks that up completely.

So there are several questions I've had regarding this, and we wanna answer those.

You see that difference?

But again, you can't just put a dart here, it has to--or take a-- you don't want to take a tuck 'cause that tuck will affect the crotch depth.

I only want to affect crotch length.

Now, when I come back to the pattern and I think about this, this is actually where the dart is made on the tissue.

It's made right here.

And you can see it tapers nothing so that my pattern still lays flat but that is done.

And that's all I need to do.

Many of us have a tendency to think that when I shorten my crotch length, it affects my crotch depth.

And I've got this crazy little contraption I want to show you that I made and it's just weird, but hang with me and you'll get it and you'll understand why I did it, okay?

This is my waist, see?

Circular, this is my waist.

This is my crotch.

It's going in between my legs, and back to here.

But this pole here is my crotch depth.

It's the length of the body, it's my crotch depth.

It can only go up or down, remember.

I can only cut the pillowcase up or cut the pillowcase less.

But if you notice, this right here, which is the tummy, a flat rear end, I can actually take and make this less, and I'm gonna put a pin in here just so we can see it, and I can shorten it, if I have a flat rear end.

I could actually cut it and open it if I have a bigger rear end.

But I can adjust it and it's really important to see that I can adjust it without following that, because it's dimensional.

The hardest thing, I think, for a lot of women to see is because it's flat, they think that one adjustment affects another, and it doesn't.

Just simply, again, showing you this diagram.

It's really bugging me that my pin is not straight.

So, what this is, is center back of the pant, just like what I did here, and it tapers all the way to nothing to the side seam, just as I did back on the tissue, follows all the way.

So the process you want to do to get these three correct is I want to make a quick muslin, I want to put the crotch where I want it, secure the waist into place, and then simply pin out whatever I don't want.

We'll find in patterns that the problem consistently is going to be this crotch length.

They make the crotch length extra long in pants so it doesn't fit anyone.

It just goes onto everyone.

So one thing I want to explain also, so many women for many years have felt like if I scoop out that crotch, it'll fix it.

And there are some times where, admittedly, I see someone who has scooped out a crotch and it's actually worked.

But it's coincidental and it's not consistent and it's not planned, because understand that when I scoop out this crotch, it actually makes that crotch length longer.

And typically, that's the problem in the first place.

And again, not to say it hasn't worked and, accidentally, it may have, but I want it to be purposeful, I want you to understand how each one operates, and then to be able to go in and do the depth, the length, and control them separately.

Separate control is extremely important when you come to pants, especially making them.

Okay, so let's talk about a couple other things.

When I look at the back of a pant, I will never have when I have stripes or checks, and this one is a good example.

I want you to see how this stripe, especially this one, how uneven it is.

So you notice it starts to get smaller, smaller, because the center back of a pair of pants is on an angle.

Now, for some reason, we don't necessarily understand that and see that because we didn't understand how the pattern was created.

And I don't think that matters.

I think what's really important is just to understand the difference between those two.

But I do want you to see that when I take this pant and I compare it, let's say if this is the pattern now that works for me, if I come in and compare it to another pants pattern, I want the backs to be the same.

Maybe not in styling, but you can see that if this pant works for me, and I put it on top of this one, this one's not going to.

The crotch, you can see immediately, when I line those up, it's not the same.

The waist shape is not the same.

The side is the same, so I don't need to worry about that.

But anywhere that I start and I start from the crotch up, the crotch up is fit.

So I want the crotch length, the crotch depth, the shape of the waist, the shape of the hip, I'm looking to duplicate those things and then I don't have to make another muslin.

I don't have to go through that time.

But one time in, one time really taking your patience to do that correctly, is the way I really wanna go.

All right, so what I want to do now is I want to look at a couple other rules of patterns with pants that are really important.

And that is the grain line.

If we don't cover grain, if we don't have it correct, I don't think there's another garment that we can-- that is as important as pants, because what we know about the grain of cloth, if the grain of cloth is straight, the garment will be straight.

But if the grain is not straight, then it won't.

It won't hang.

Now, it doesn't matter if the grain is under 20 inches, so most of the tops, most of the jackets, most of those things I do, if I skew the grain a little bit, it really won't come back to haunt us, but that's not true in pants.

If I skew the grain, and the grain line goes from the dart which remember, in the pillowcase it's 4 inches from center front or center back, even when I don't have a dart, it's still actually in the pattern at that place.

And it goes from that point to the center of the hem.

So you can see how straight the leg will hang.

So it's interesting enough over the years, there's been manufacturers of pants and things of that nature, that have purposely skewed the grain.

And so, when you do that, what will happen is that leg will twist and I can't tell you how many questions I get about "my pant leg is twisting.

Why does it twist?"

And it twists because when I put that pattern on the fabric, it wasn't on grain.

And there's no way to fix that once I've cut it and once I've sewn it.

And if we look at the back of these pants, we can really see pocket placements and what we want to know about pocket placements is regardless of where we put them, high or low, none of that matters.

But what does matter, is whether they're straight to center back or whether they're skewed to the yoke line.

Almost all pants have a yoke line.

And what we want to do is not align the top of the pocket to the yoke line.

We want to align the pocket to the center back seam.

And if you notice here, it starts to get larger here, than it does here.

That's what we want.

We want that to be just a little bit bigger.

Quickly then, what I want to show you is, I want to show you a little hidden pocket.

So, a lot of times, now, we're wearing yoga pants.

We're wearing all kinds of pants that we really don't want a little--a lot of pockets.

We just want a little bit.

And so, I had a question that someone wanted me to show them how to do a little invisible pocket.

And the cool thing about doing these is, I can actually make them any size I want.

So if I'm walking in the morning and I've got on a pair of yoga pants, I can make this fit my phone.

I can do anything.

So, step number one is I've got my front of my pant and I've got my waistband.

And all I have to do additionally is cut the pocket.

So, this is little, but I would make it big enough for a credit card, you know, that-- you can't fit your phone in there.

So you make it bigger.

But this is just a sample.

And the very first thing I do is I sew the bottom of the invisible zipper to both the pocket and the pant, the top of the pant where I want that pocket to be.

And I'm going to actually sew them as one.

Then the next step I'm gonna do is I sew the top to the waistband.

Pretty simple stuff, top to the waistband.

The next step I do is I fold up the pocket and make it, and then right here, to stop it, I'm gonna sew that closed here, and I'm gonna sew that closed here, so that the zipper actually stops there.

I look inside, and I've got the cutest little pocket ever.

It's so cute and it's so secret, and so easy to do.

All I have to do is add in the separate piece.

I can create it to be as wide and as deep as I want.

Keep in mind that the only support it has is the waistband so if it's too big, you know, it'll just-- it'll pull your pants down.

It'll sag in that area.

So you want to be careful that it doesn't do that.

And that is just a really fun little trick to know.

Margaret Thatcher has said "to wear your heart on your sleeve isn't a very good plan.

You should wear it inside where it functions best."

Ms. Thatcher had a wise perspective.

We'll talk about sleeves and armholes and make sure they are both where they belong and functioning their best, next time on "Fit 2 Stitch."

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ announcer: "Fit 2 Stitch" is made possible by Kai Scissors.

♪♪ announcer: Plano Sewing Center.

♪♪ announcer: Elliott Berman Textiles.

♪♪ announcer: Bennos Buttons.

♪♪ announcer: Imitation of Life.

♪♪ announcer: And Clutch Nails.

♪♪ announcer: To order a four-DVD set of "Fit 2 Stitch," series 11, please visit our website at fit2stitch.com.

♪♪