Why Mess Around With a Good Thing?

I have my Marfy/CLD MSS pants all stitched together.  They are fitting great.  I have the hems almost ready to be stitched.  Now I just have the waistband to cut out and attach. As I was picking out threads at one point this evening I got to thinking and wondering about something. 

I think I showed you the Marfy pattern and the CLD MSS pattern last week and compared them.  The Marfy pattern has a fly front, a waistband, darts and straight legs.  The straight legs are a bit full for me.

Louise Cutting's My Swing Set pants came out in February or March of this year.  Joy Joy and I were blessed to be able to take a class with Louise in Tulsa at the wonderful Cloth Merchants store.  We got to
try out the pattern before it was for sale and Louise fitted it for us.  I love, love, love this pattern.  It is the first time I have ever been able to get a pair of pants to look that good in the back.  Usually, I have folds down below my very flat butt, but not in the MSS pants.  The legs aren't too big either, another constant problem.  I have made three pairs of these pants.  It is too warm right now for the last pair I made.  I should be able to wear them again in another month.  I find that I go to the MSS pants constantly.  They are comfortable and they fit really well.

So, why did I decide that I needed to try the Marfy pattern?  Yes, I wanted a fly zipper and a regular waistband.  But reality is that the elastic waistband is not really uncomfortable.  Louise recommends cutting the elastic (purchased from her) 10"-12" less than your waist measurement.  I think I made the last pair only 9" smaller than my waist and I liked that better.  The elastic is very soft and you cut it smaller to keep the pants from sliding down.  However, I have a waist that is ten inches smaller than my high hips.  Nothing is going to fall off of me.  If my waist and hips were closer in size, I could see cutting it 10" smaller than my waist, but with my waist to hip difference, I think I am going to use 8-9" less than my waist measurement from now on.  Like I said before, I don't like even the thought of elastic pinching my waist. 

I do this all the time.  I get a pattern to fit me and make it once and then move on to another pattern.  The exception to that has been CLD's Relax A Little top.  I've made it three times and I took the first one that Joy made because she didn't like the way it fit her, but I was perfectly happy with the way it fit me.  I love that pattern and I will make it again.  Why don't I do that with more patterns?  Most people don't have any idea that the four RAL tops are the same pattern.  They are different fabrics, different number of buttons, different collar treatments.  Two have pockets and two don't.  I could make it longer or change the neckline.  Why don't I do that instead of starting over with a new pattern and trying to make it fit me?

With the Marfy pants I wanted to try the pattern line because I had read wonderful things about it.  But when I compared the CLD pattern and the Marfy pattern I found the crotch almost the same, but realized that the Marfy pants were going to be way too full for me, so I traced the Marfy waist onto the CLD pants.  I could have made fly front pants with a waistband from the CLD pants without the Marfy pattern, but I wanted to try the Marfy pattern.

Maybe I am constantly making new patterns because I like the process of making it fit me.  I am process driven more than results driven.  The process is like a puzzle and I love to work puzzles.  But why don't I use the TNTs like the CLD pants and the RAL top and work out different ways of changing them?  Wouldn't that be just as much of a puzzle?

Am I like the moth drawn to the fire and always looking for that bright and shiny new pattern to make me happy? 

How about you?  Do you jump from pattern to pattern and never really explore a pattern's full possibilities or do you have TNTs that are used over and over again?

Happy Sewing!

Hugs, Phylly