A question for Simplicity

[amethyst73]

Dear Simplicity Patterns,

I have a couple of questions regarding pattern 1807.

1. Why did you not mention on the back of the envelope that one needs elastic to do (I think) any of the variations in here?

2. Given that they all have elastic, why on earth do you then also put in a drawstring?  Just for the look of the thing (because, I suppose, elastic waistbands alone are not 'cool' or 'hip' or whatever style these are supposed to be, but drawstrings are)?

Sincerely,

Me

----------------------------------------------

I think I'm going to say, to heck with the drawstring.  I don't think they add much.  Also I don't have a way to make buttonholes (for the ends of the drawstring to go through).  Yet.

And I need to go out and get more elastic in the foreseeable future.  Maybe I should just get a big roll of the stuff, since that's probably where it'll be at for pants/skirts (and I already know I wanna make another skirt after this).


ETA: My bad... elastic *is* listed, just not in the Notions section (which is where I expected it to be).

Comments

[onyoukai.livejournal.com]

I took a look at the envelope back, and it actually does mention elastic, but not in place where it should. I would expect to see elastic listed off where it says "Notions", near the top, though it's clearly not there. (But why on earth does it bother listing thread? WHAT) However, when I look near the bottom, there's a separate line item specifying "All Views: Elastic". It's really easy to miss.

I own a couple pairs of ready-to-wear sweatpants that have both an elastic waist and a drawstring. The drawstring has since broken and fallen out of one of them, and I don't even notice its absence.

The drawstring-elastic combination is more of a fallback save for a waistband that's too loose even despite elastic. I can think of 3 instances where this might happen:

1) The sewist doesn't know how to properly measure out how much elastic they need and they use too much

2) The wearer loses considerable weight later (or perhaps having both is an anticipation of girth gain)

3) The elastic stretches out of shape over time and loses tension (I've had this happen with certain poor-quality elastic types)

But generally, I think doing both is superfluous. I'd only pick one or the other, myself.

(Edit: Heh, I started writing this comment before you edited your post about the elastic mis-location)

[amethyst73.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm glad I'm not the only one who expected to see elastic up in Notions! I kept checking that part of the envelope before I was ready to check out, and figured, "Nooo... I guess it's drawstring-only."

(Also, on, like, every Simplicity envelope I've ever seen, it tells you to look for trims, even if the pattern doesn't specifically call for, say, eyelet or what have you. Trying to get you to buy more stuff?)

And yup. Elastic it will be.

[onyoukai.livejournal.com]

Honestly though, it's so easy to convert a drawstring style to elastic, or an elastic design to drawstring. It's pretty much the exact same thing as far as pattern and structure goes. Elastic is the "automatic" take-in while drawstring is "manual", so to speak. The only real difference is that you finish the casing in a slightly different way, and elastic casings tend to be wider.

Some people put rickrack on everything or otherwise have a tacky sense of over-embellishment via trims. I don't understand it.