AN UPDATE ON OUR JEANS PATTERN
By Pati Palmer
This blog is about transparency and an easy fix when there is an error in a pattern. You will also learn more in-depth about FGM (Finished Garment Measurements) on patterns and how to use them to get the jeans fit you want based on your fabric.
At Palmer/Pletsch, we’ve always said that when we teach, we learn. And we recently learned something important about our jeans pattern Butterick B6911.
Helen Bartley, author of our jeans book, Fit and Sew Custom Jeans, helped me develop this jeans pattern to follow the fitting and sewing order in her book. With B6911 we finally had an amazing Palmer/Pletsch jeans pattern to go with the 240-page jeans book. It’s the only book and pattern that includes fitting instructions in the sewing order.
The pattern comes in sizes 4-20. (The plus-size version B6912 is sized up to 38W, or 64” hips.) Line art of the views shows that both A and B have a contour band. (Yes, we show you how to fit it!)
WE FOUND A PROBLEM. AND WE FIXED IT!
Now to what we learned about B6911 as we started teaching with it.
Helen, using the pattern for the first time in her 5-day Palmer/Pletsch Jeans Workshop, ran into something weird. The back crotch on View B (View B only) was unusually tight on her students. She managed to fit them but wondered why it was so hard. Remember, Helen is the woman who “wrote the book” on jeans fitting.
We were on a mission. By just looking at the View B tissue alone, we couldn’t see anything odd. But placing A on top of B made the issue obvious. B was higher in the rise than A everywhere except at the center back. (View A has a moderately dropped waist, while View B is a high-waisted jean.) The View B back needed 1¼” more length at the top. It obviously was an error.
NOTE: This issue only affects B6911, not the plus-size B6912.
PROBLEM:
Center back does not reach waist.
SOLUTION:
Add to BACK, not YOKE.
As always, we shared our findings with Butterick. Normally they would discontinue the pattern, but they knew how important this new jeans pattern was to us and how long we’d been working on it.
Also, we needed a pattern that could be used with the new jeans book and for teaching jeans classes.
Butterick agreed to make the fix and reprint. We took advantage of having taught with the pattern and made a few additional improvements, which I’ll cover later.
Do you have the original pattern? Here’s how to fix it.
THE SIMPLE FIX
On B6911 View B, add 1¼” at the top of the center back, tapering to nothing at the side.
The gridded Perfect Pattern Paper makes altering patterns easier because it has 1/8” to 1” lines printed on the tissue.
HERE'S HOW
Cut a strip of tissue, like the gridded Perfect Pattern Paper, 1½” wide. Pin to back with 1¼” above center back, to nothing at side. Tape in place. Trim ends even.
Mark 5/8” seamlines on the bottom edge of the YOKE and top edge of BACK.
Lap the seamlines and pin.
Trim the yoke CB seam allowance to an even 5/8”.
Choose Your Size Using Finished Garment Measurement
Helen had wondered, in her first class using the new pattern, why the jeans were bigger than normal for her students. She bases pattern size for jeans on the finished garment measurement (FGM), so if the measurements are off, then the fit is off.
Where do you measure FGM? In Palmer/Pletsch books we say measure the full hip below the zipper where the hip is usually the fullest.
FGM symbol: This symbol marks where the finished garment is measured for bust and hips on pattern tissue. Listed below the circle are the total finished garment measurements of the front and back for each size.
What we found was that Butterick had measured the FGM of the tissue near the lengthen and shorten line, making the hip FGM 1½” smaller than at the full hip area.
When measured at the full hip just below the zipper opening, the FGM is 1½” larger, giving the jeans 3” of ease. See more about ease in jeans below.
When Butterick reprinted, they moved the symbol to the bottom of the zipper and adjusted the measurements on the tissue.
How Do You Know If You Have an Updated Pattern?
Here are the body measurements for the hip of the nine sizes followed by the charts for the NEW vs the OLD finished garment measurements shown on the back of the envelope of B6911.
If the FGM on the back of the envelope shows the NEW measurements, you have the revised pattern.
NOTE: If you have the original pattern, use the NEW FGM chart for pattern size if using Helen’s sizing instructions for jeans. (See page 7 in Fit and Sew Custom Jeans.)
BACK OF NEW PATTERN ENVELOPE
NOTE: You can order the updated B6911 pattern in your size range of D-5 (sizes 4-12) or P-5 (12-20) from Palmer/Pletsch using the button below or at Butterick online. At a fabric store read the back of the envelope before you buy it to check whether the pattern shows the “old” FGM or has been updated with the “new” FGM as shown in the chart above.
NOTE: B6912 did not have the same problem as B6911.
NOTE ABOUT EASE IN JEANS:
Fit and Sew Custom Jeans is the only jeans book that incorporates fit throughout the sewing process. It is also a great supplement to fitting any style pant with negative ease, not covered in our other pant books.
When Errors Occur, we fix them
In producing technical how-to materials for over 50 years—40+ sewing books and nearly 400 patterns (Vogue five years, McCall’s 40, and Butterick four)—I’ve learned that highly illustrated technical instructions are very difficult to produce perfectly every time.
Having as many as 25 people reading the manuscript for a book, for example, doesn’t mean we won’t find errors in the printed book. Our newest books, The Palmer/Pletsch Complete Guide to Fitting and Fit and Sew Custom Jeans, are our most highly illustrated and technical books to date. This means an extraordinary amount of detail—grammatical and technical—to keep straight in your mind as you’re editing and proofreading.
I no longer beat myself up if something got missed. Unlike many large publishers, we fix errors when we reprint. Additionally, when we add new or improved content, that reprint is called an “updated edition” or, if the new content is changed by at least 25%, it is a “second edition.”
The large pattern companies have an even harder job because they have larger teams working on many patterns. There’s a designer, drafter, grader, writer, illustrator and so on. That means more opportunities for changes to be made along the way.
I occasionally find mistakes in my patterns such as notches that don’t match, but the beauty of tissue-fitting is that you will catch and correct things like that before you cut out your fabric. And tissue-fitting is how we found this error in our jeans pattern.
It took a lot of time to create this pattern, to find this error, to correct it, and to write a blog post about it. We wanted to be transparent by sharing this with you. We are grateful to Butterick for correcting the errors and reprinting the pattern.
So many of you have been faithful followers of Palmer/Pletsch for years and we hope we earn it every day by trying to be the best we can be. Scroll down for a bonus tip!
Sincerely,
BONUS! WANT THE VIEW B WIDER LEG AND SLIGHTLY LOWER WAIST LIKE VIEW A?
It’s simple. Use View A and widen the legs at the bottom, tapering in at the thigh. This photo was taken when I was in author Helen Bartley’s jeans class. Helen says I’ve earned lifetime hardware service if I sew jeans in her workshops!! Butterick B6911 View A with widened legs.
View A-Legs Widened (and a few of my alterations)
Here are my alterations to View A. I needed more front thigh width, so I carried the leg width addition to the crotch on the FRONT. I also added a little extra “in-case” width at the waist side seams. The 1-piece contour band was tissue-fitted to my body and tucked to fit my contour. One of my sides is a little different than the other.
If you are a Plus Size, the companion pattern B6912 includes sizes 20W to 38W for up to a 64” hip. It does not need the crotch fix we did on B6911.
We LOVE to sew jeans! It feels like a great accomplishment!!
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COMING IN APRIL 2025—JEANS JAMBOREE!
At our April 10-14 Jeans That Fit workshop in Louisville, Kentucky, Fit and Sew Custom Jeans author Helen Bartley will be co-teaching this workshop with Louisville instructor Lyndsey Stanfill. In conjunction with the workshop we’ll be offering additional events. We’ll be posting more about this in our emails. Learn more about the workshop by clicking the button below.
IF YOU HAVE HELEN’S BOOK, TELL US WHAT YOU THINK OF IT! Send us an email: info@palmerpletsch.com You can also message us on Instagram @palmerpletsch
Hi Pati,
The OLD jeans pattern comes up when I clicked on the link to buy it from you.
Am I seeing that correctly?
Thank you
Hi Kathy,
We need to update that web page. The new pattern is what we are selling now. Thanks for reminding me!
Linda Wisner, Design Director, Palmer/Pletsch
Thank you for this blog. I purchased the Jean book a few years ago and have been hesitant about making them. I think I can get started now!
Catherine,
Thank you for your comment. Have fun and let us know if you have questions. We started a 5-day jeans workshop today here in Portland. Such fun to sew all those jeans details. Not hard, just takes a bit of time. Fun to show off to your friends!! Pati
So glad I read your blog! Have the “old” pattern and it’s on my list, so I’ll make the corrections. I love P/P patterns and books! I get nice results!
Cindy,
Thank you. Pati Palmr
What a disappointment. I noticed a problem with step 8 where it says to pin wrong side of pocket to right side of Front. It should say right sides together. Being unsure of how I was seeing this I searched for problem comments and came to your site. Turns out there are 2 problems with the pattern, one identified by you and one by me.
Unfortunately I have already cut out my pants. Guess I will try to put it together but have my doubts as I have a long hip. Are these patterns not tested before being issued? I am aware that I bought the pattern and held it for some time before trying.
Ellen,
I asked author of the jeans book to reply to your pocket question. Here is what Helen Bartley explains about the pocket instructions:
The pocket sewing instructions in the guide sheet are correct. Most jeans use a solid color pocket bag material so the WRONG side of the side front is placed on the RIGHT side of the pocket bag as shown in the guide sheet.
In the Jeans book I wrote that I like to use a print for the pocket bags just for fun. I want the print to show from the inside of the jeans when I put them on. In this case the WRONG side of the side front is sewn to the WRONG side of the pocket bag. Which ever way you choose to do the pocket bags, the WRONG side of the side front must be sewn to the pocket bag so that the RIGHT side of the side front is on the right side (outside, public side) of the jeans.
As to the pattern and wanting to have the perfect jeans pattern to go along with Helen’s book, needless to say how disappointed we were finding a mistake. In the past the pattern would have been discontinued immediately. However, Butterick agreed to fix the view in question and I agreed to be transparent in a blog. You asked if a pattern is tested. Yes, it is sewn and looked fine on the model. It was when Helen used it in a workshop fitting the printed tissue on people she saw an issue. As I mentioned to you in the email I sent recently when I return from my vacation I am happy to help you with the pattern. You have my personal email. Sincerely, Pati Palmer.