my jeans pattern

As requested, here is a picture of my pattern for the jeans I made for myself.

I have tried over the years to draft women's trouser patterns from a variety of sources, just out of curiousity, and none of them were satisfactory to me and they didn't get beyond the toile stage. I guess I just didn't want to fix the draft- too much work in most cases.

I also know that I have a tendency to abandon ship on projects for myself- especially if things aren't the way I want the first time. I don't want to talk about the leather jacket under my table or the riding jacket there either. Confession time: one has been sitting there for close to 20 years!

The drafts I used were from Pattern Making for Fashion Design by Armstrong, and Metric Pattern Cutting for Women by Aldrich and I think I even tried the trouser draft from Natalie Bray's book Dress Pattern Designing. I even tried copying trousers I bought. I used to have a great Burda trouser pattern but it was very 1980's. So this has been going on for many years in a half hearted way, and to be honest I didn't keep notes about what I didn't like.

Generally though, for jeans, the drafts were too loose fitting in the body, sat too low at the back waist, or the darting at the back wasn't enough. Sometimes I thought they were too closed in, in the legs, and I think jeans should have a more open leg cut. The CB seam was often too straight as well, and I think jeans should be more on the bias there.

This time, I just drafted them using my general draft for men's breeches/close fitting trousers. This is a draft I have put together over time, taking elements of drafts I like, proportions that seem to work, and just using my general experience and common sense. I had to alter the front fork/ CF curve because I drew it as I would the men's, and there was too much fabric there.

These are cut to fit closely at the thigh but not too tightly, sit below the natural waist, and I wanted them to cover my butt at the back, especially when bending down in fittings- something that I wish the commercial manufacturers would fix! I also didn't want the back waistband to gape- another thing I wish the commercial manufacturers would fix. I'm sure I could go on and on about how difficult it is to find trousers or jeans that fit, and I'm sure you could too.

Should there be a list of complaints? The sad thing is that I am kind of average in size- bigger than I used to be and a bit out of shape :( but a commercial size 6. How difficult it must be for plus sizes for instance. Women buy badly fitting jeans all the time- do they not see it or do they just give up?

I had a dart in the back, which I closed out to make the yoke. The little bit of the bottom of the dart that was left, I eased into the yoke seam. I think that it helps to shape over the seat.

I want to reposition the yoke seam on the next pair, but I will wear these for a while to see if anything else needs modifying. I don't want to rush into anything! I'm almost overwhelmed with myself for actually finishing them.