Men’s Joggers Comparison Guide: Part 3, Crotch

This will be my final blog post about men’s jogger patterns. My three-part series walks you through my process with any new pant pattern I encounter:

1. Measure key parts of the new pattern.
   • Starting at the center of the ankle draw a vertical line up to the waistband as your center grainline.
   • Measure the inside and outside width at the ankle, knee, crotch (bottom of the crotch curve), hip (top of the crotch curve), and waistband.
   • Compare measurements to other pant patterns that I know fit.
     • Align your patterns vertically along the center grainline and horizontally at the hip level because crotch and waistlines levels vary.
2. Make adjustments to the drape.
   • Center the knee, if not centered.
   • At the hip level, adjust the distance from the center back and front to the grainline.
3. Make adjustments to the crotch hook length.

This post is all about the crotch area and making sure to get the crotch length and the location of the crotch point correct. For more information about why these measurements matter, check out my previous post, “Balancing Front and Back Crotch Hook Lengths.”

Patterns

Here’s a list of all the patterns included in this comparison guide:

• Grasser No191 (click here for Pinterest Board)
• True Bias Men’s Hudson (click here for Pinterest Board)
• Green Style Iron (click here for Pinterest Board)
• Sinclair Lakeside (click here for Pinterest Board)
• Jalie 3909 Henri (click here for Pinterest Boad)

For each of these patterns, I selected the size associated with a hip measurement of ~42 inches and chose the longest length possible:

• Grasser No191, size 56, height 188-194 cm, Version 1
• True Bias, 36
• Green Style, XL, 34″ x-long inseam
• Sinclair, 42/L, tall
• Jalie, AA

If you would like to download Ryan’s pattern, scroll to the bottom of this post. There is a download button to his pattern on Gumroad.

To review the alterations that have been made, check out my previous post. Grainline at the knee and hip level have all been adjusted to match Ryan’s shape.

HandmadePhD

Here is the self-drafted pattern I made for Ryan. Measuring crotch hook length is not always straightforward. In my post about finding and adjusting the crotch point, I measured crotch hook length by drawing a line vertical from the waistband. The problem with this method is that it depends on the height from the crotch level to the waistband. Waistbands can move up or down based on style and preference. This makes standardizing crotch hook length difficult since it depends upon the location of the waistband. You can’t standardize crotch hook length based upon the distance between the hip and crotch level either because that changes too!

I went with the only crotch length measurement I could: the distance from the center grainline to the crotch point. The disclaimer for this post is that the crotch level will be different for every pattern, some higher and some lower, based on how the jogger is styled. This is why I lined up all patterns at the hip level (i.e., top of the crotch curve).

Ryan’s front crotch length is 8-⅝ inches, and his back hook length is 7-⅝ inches. Therefore, even if the overall crotch length is enough (16-¼ inches), it is essential that the front is 8-⅝ inches and the back is 7-⅝ inches.

Grasser No191

• The front crotch length is too short, 1-⅜ inches.
• The back crotch length is too long, ⅜ inches.
• Overall, the crotch length is 1 inch too short.

I lengthened the front crotch and shortened the back crotch keeping the crotch point on the same horizontal level. I did a final check to true up the crotch point, which should be at a 90º angle, and I made sure my front inseam was no more than ⅜ inches longer than the back inseam. It is OK if the front inseam is the same length as the back inseam. You just don’t want the front inseam to be shorter than the back inseam.

After fixing the drape and adjusting the crotch length, what remains?

• The crotch point is lower on the Grasser No191 pattern.
• The angle of the back center seam is slightly steeper (probably not an issue for joggers).
• The back waistband is slightly higher and could be lowered.
• There’s a lot of excess width along the back side seam from the waist to the knee that could be removed.
• The size is perfect for the front and back legs.
• The joggers are long enough, yay!

I’m thrilled to see that not much needs to be altered with the Grasser pattern. I’m also pretty stoked to see my self-drafted pattern shares many similarities in terms of style. The front pant leg is about 1 inch narrower than the back leg. The legs taper about 3 inches from knee to ankle. The overall size and ease are almost identical. I feel confident that my pattern captures the style of how joggers should look. I should also note that everyone that makes this pattern looks good in the final fit.

True Bias Men’s Hudson

• The front crotch length is too short, 1-¼ inches.
• The back crotch length is too long, ⅜ inches.
• Overall, the crotch length is ⅞ inches too short.

I lengthened the front crotch and shortened the back crotch keeping the crotch point on the same horizontal level. I didn’t raise or lower the crotch point.

After fixing the drape and adjusting the crotch length, what remains?

• The front waistband is a bit too low and needs to be raised up.
• There’s a little bit of shaping along the back side seam from the waist to the knee that could be removed.
• The front from the hip down to the ankle is too small, but the back is just fine.
• The pant leg length is too short, obviously.

Even with these adjustments, the men’s Hudson jogger just has not been a successful pattern for either of us. The front and back pieces significantly differ in size, the leg taper is dramatically different, and the length is too short. The joggers are always too tight in the front and saggy in the back. Not our preferred style.

Green Style Iron

• The front crotch length is too short, ⅜ inches.
• The back crotch length is too long, ¾ inches.
• Overall, the crotch length is nearly perfect, ⅜ inches too long. Almost not enough to make an adjustment worth it!

I lengthened the front crotch and shortened the back crotch because it’ll help get the crotch point in the right location.

After fixing the drape and adjusting the crotch length, what remains?

• The front and back waistband is way too low and will need to be raised up.
• The crotch point is slightly higher.
• Although slightly narrower, the front and back pattern pieces are drafted with a similar taper to my self-drafted version.
• The length is fine.

After the adjustments, I would say this is a decent pattern for Ryan except for the really low waistband. I’m excited to see another pattern that shares many similarities with my self-drafted pattern in terms of style. The front pant leg is about 1 inch narrower than the back leg. The legs taper about 3 inches from knee to ankle. The overall size and ease are almost identical. The benefit of this pattern over Grasser is the extended size range. Grasser’s hip range is 36.5 to 46.7 inches, and the Green Style hip range is 31 to 51 inches. This pattern is also a great example of never being too quick to judge a pattern. Even though the adjustments to the drape were pretty extensive, this ended up being a great pattern!

Sinclair Lakeside

• The front crotch length is too short, 1-⅝ inches.
• The back crotch length is too long, 1 inch.
• Overall, the crotch length is ⅝ inches too short.

I’m definitely seeing a trend at this point. I lengthened the front crotch and shortened the back crotch.

After fixing the drape and adjusting the crotch length, what remains?

• The front waistband is way too low and will need to be raised up. Interesting how True Bias’ pattern kept the waistband heigher at the side seam and this pattern aggressively drops the side waistband.
• The angle of the back center seam is too tilted. Ryan (nor I) have a butt that protudes a lot, so our front and back center seam does not need to be much off of vertical. Remember it’s the SHAPE of your butt and not the SIZE that determines the center back seam angle.
• The crotch point is higher.
• Overall, the front is smaller (waistband, hips, legs, etc.) The back legs are too narrow too.
• The length is good.

Even after adjustments, this pattern is overall too small for Ryan. Going up 1 or 2 sizes would still make this a lousy pattern for Ryan because the center back seam would have to be altered. This is the only pattern with that issue. The Sinclair jogger is shaped for someone with a very different figure. If you share this type of figure, this would be a lovely pattern.

Jalie Henri

• The front crotch length is too short, 1 inches.
• The back crotch length is too long, ½ inch.
• Overall, the crotch length is ½ inches too short.

I can confidently say that I will need to lengthen the front crotch and shorten the back crotch for any pattern I ever use.

After fixing the drape and adjusting the crotch length, what remains?

• Waistband location looks good.
• Angle of the center front and center back seams look good.
• The crotch point is higher.
• Overall, the legs are a bit narrower, but it’s the style of the torso that’s radically different. The front torso (crotch level up) is really narrow. So much so that the pattern is no longer drafted well. The front outer knee is wider than the hips! Alternatively, the back torso (crotch level up) is really wide! This means that the side seam is pushed towards the front of the body. Not sure if this would look alright. I’m guessing no it would not look alright.
• The length is good even though there weren’t any length options with the pattern.

I’m not sure about the style decision to move the side seam towards the front. I would definitely have to make a muslin to see if this would work or if the joggers would just end up too tight in the front and too baggy in the back. Based upon the Calyer and Palisade Pants, if you move the side seam towards the front of the body, the seam from the ankle up has to be moved and not just from the crotch level up. Otherwise, you are just making the front torso smaller and tighter and the back torso bigger and baggier. Based on the photos I’ve seen, this is precisely what happens. This is the second pattern that probably won’t work for Ryan.

Summary

So unless someone is willing to donate 15+ yards of 60-inch wide sweatshirt fleece, I won’t be sewing any toiles of these patterns. Fabric has gotten more pricey, so sewing 5 joggers for the heck of it isn’t feasible. For my summary, I’m just going to post figures of the patterns compared to each other since I’ve talked to death about comparison with my self-drafted pattern.

Hopefully, now that you’ve gotten to the end of my series, you can see there’s a clear difference between fit and style. I’ve adjusted the drape and crotch lengths of all the patterns to match the same body. Now the differences between the patterns are stylistic. Making small or large adjustments to fix the drape of a pattern doesn’t erase the pattern designer’s stylistic work.

Enjoy perusing the patterns.

The Grasser pattern has the most ease of all and the lowest crotch point. But this pattern really does look fantastic on everyone.

True Bias’s front leg is tied for the most narrow with Sinclair. Notice, however, the back leg is much wider than Sinclair. True Bias has the most considerable disparity in leg width between the front and back.

Green Style has the lowest waistband. I’m sorry, I just find it silly how low it is because I lived through the 90s and know that nobody looks good in low-rise pants.

The Sinclair pattern is much smaller at the waist, hip, crotch, and legs than other patterns. Only Jalie’s front pattern piece is smaller at the crotch up to the waistband.

Jalie is the widest at the back crotch and hip but the narrowest at the front crotch and hip. Odd.

Conclusions

If you want to download Ryan’s pattern, you can from Gumroad. Click the link below:

Ryan’s pattern is available in multiple formats: print-at-home on US Letter or A4 and large format on 36″x48″ or A0. Only the most basic instructions are included.

Fin!