Self-Drafted Skinny Jean Shorts

This blog post is going to be another technical post, but isn’t that my shtick?! Over the past few months, I’ve been getting into the nitty-gritty of fitting pants. I tried to work through patterns and make numerous test pairs to get the fit right. I was methodical and very precise about documenting my alterations. If you remember, my first pant exploration was with Closet Case Ginger Skinny Jeans. I ended up making 3 test pairs, one baste fitting, and finally a wearable version.

• Closet Case Patterns Ginger Skinny Jeans Pattern Muslin #1
• Closet Case Patterns Ginger Skinny Jeans Pattern Muslin #2
• Closet Case Patterns Ginger Skinny Jeans Pattern Muslin #3
• Closet Case Patterns Ginger Skinny Jeans Pattern Baste Fitting
• Closet Case Patterns Ginger Skinny Jeans

The jeans fit. I’m not 100% happy with the fit, but they fit better than any RTW jeans I’ve ever owned. I take my victories when I can. However, a few fit issues are remaining: twist in the left leg, pinching and rubbing along the inner thigh, and bagginess in the hamstring area. I also don’t love how the front crotch looks in the pant either. I’ve chalked up my complaints to being overly fastidious, which seems to happen for many sewers. We have a terrible habit of over-analyzing fit.

DRAFTING PATTERN

Well, my need to improve fit got the better of me. During my creative flurry with the duct tape sloper, I drafted a skinny jeans pattern and used pieces from Closet Case Ginger Skinny Jeans to guide my pattern drafting.

FRONT LEG

I dropped the waistline down a ½ inch because the pattern adds a waistband. I added ½ inch to the side seam, inseam, and along center front. I stopped when I got to the crotch curve and just blended the existing curve down to the inseam. Using the Ginger skinny jean pattern, I added the front fly extension and cut out the shape of the front pocket. I had to also redraft the front pocket pieces, but that was straight forward once I got my front pant piece figured out.