Sure Fit Designs

Pants Wearing Ease

Some like 'em tight, some like 'em loose — here's how to find the ease that's right for you.

What Is Wearing Ease?

Wearing ease in your pants always comes down to personal preference — and of course, it depends on the purpose and function of the pants. Jeans vs. dress pants are intended to fit differently and have different amounts of ease.

When fitting and sewing pants, you always need to account for some room to move within the garment. This is called Wearing Ease. When you add interesting design features like pleats, you are adding additional ease, which is called Design Ease.

The amount of ease any individual requires depends on a number of factors: your body frame, muscular structure, body fat, garment function, and personal preference all play significant roles.

A Simple Way to Determine Your Ease

Here is an interesting technique to help determine how much ease you'd like to begin with for a pants fitting muslin. Measure your low/full hips twice — once while standing, and once while sitting.

The easiest way: take the hip circumference measurement while standing. Then, while still holding the tape measure, sit on an upright chair and let the tape measure expand through your fingers as you lower yourself. The difference between your standing and sitting measurement is the approximate amount of ease you'll need in your hip area.

Wovens vs. Knits

This technique applies primarily to woven fabrics. If you are sewing with stretch knit fabrics, the ease amount will be reduced depending on how stretchy the knit is. If the knit is extremely stretchy, you may want next to no ease at all.

When working with knit fabric, it's always easier to give some ease to the pattern because the side seam can always be flattened if there's too much — but if you cut without any ease and don't like the close fit, you won't be able to add it back without ending up with skinny seam allowances.

Applying This to the Sure-Fit Designs™ Pants Kit

The Sure Fit Designs Pants Kit master patterns allow approximately 2” (5cm) of low/full hip ease. (As your hip circumference gets larger, the ease increases slightly.)

For example: 40” (102cm) hips standing, expanding to 43” (109cm) sitting. Using the 40” dot on the master pattern results in a 42” (107cm) hip circumference. Knowing you need a little more sitting ease, you would simply use the 41” (104cm) dot in the low/full hip area only — automatically giving you the extra 1” (2.5cm) of comfort when sitting.

There will always be a fine line between getting a comfortable amount of ease for sitting versus how the pant looks on your body when standing. Sometimes you'll simply have to compromise.

Ready to draft pants that fit your unique shape? Start with the Getting Started Essential Pants Kit.