Well, after 3 muslins and a few hours of pattern altering, I have a pair of shorts that I like.

I started out trying to make the Jamie Jeans I talked about in this post work. I tried flattening the crotch curve and lowering the waist in the front (since my natural waist dips down low in the front).

Sadly, I tried using some broadcloth to make the muslin to test those changes. I thought that if I added extra room to the outseam that maybe it would work to use broadcloth. Stretch denim doesn’t have that much stretch anyway, right?

Ha. I couldn’t even get them up over my body.

So I ran into the nearest little city that has a Joann and bought the only stretch denim they had. There was 5 yards left on the bolt, so I bought it all!

Then I came home and made another muslin out of the stretch denim. The crotch wrinkles were still there, and if anything they were worse.

Next, I tried adding some fabric to the inseam to see if maybe that was pulling on the crotch and making the wrinkles. I made another muslin, and the wrinkles were still there and there was bagginess in the inner leg so that definitely didn’t help.

I decided then to switch over to the pattern that I drafted last year (I also talked about that pattern a little bit in the post I talked about the Jamie Jeans in). I drafted that pattern from a pair of jeans that fit me near perfectly, so it fits me pretty well. The things I didn’t like about the pattern were the front patch pockets and the waistband, but I knew I could fix those things.

I was still getting a pull in the crotch area with that pattern. After thinking about it for a long time, I realized that the pulling across the crotch was a lot like a rope that is pulled tight from both ends, so I figured that maybe the jeans were too tight in the hips and that was pulling the crotch.

I added some width to the pattern starting at the front outseam and ending perpendicular to where the crotch seam ends. Then I blended the line in.

It worked and I was so pumped. Then I used the front pocket pieces and the waistband from my Angela Wolf pattern to complete the jeans.

 

I didn’t add pockets to my muslin for these shorts. So when I made the real shorts and used the pocket facing piece, it slightly changed the curve at the top and made them a little too tight. I couldn’t line up the center fronts exactly without making them too tight to wear, so the fly is a little crooked. I’ll fix that for next time.

I added slits at the knee and I’m digging the slits.

Here’s the back.

And one more with my wild hair.

I’m so glad I didn’t give up on getting some jeans that fit the way I want them to. It was a lot of work, but I learned a ton trying and I am feeling more confident in my fitting skills after all those attempts. I think the most important thing to do to get the fit right is to not give up.

And come on! What’s better than jumping on the trampoline with your kids while wearing a new pair of shorts?!