how to alter flare/bootcut jeans to skinny legs?

Posted by Kay Lancaster on September 19, 2008, 10:42 pm

On Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:55:43 -0400, Gerald & Donna McIntosh
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To do this, you'll fold the jeans legs in half, matching side seam to inseam.
The front and back "crease" is the grain line. Mark it from hem to crotch
level, front and back.

Next, fold the hem up to crotch level... the new fold you've made is the
nominal knee line. Mark that, too, on both legs.

Rule #1: Grainlines need to be centered on the leg, both
front and back. (if they aren't, you wind up with the leg twisting while you
walk -- even if they're skin tight). The grainline should be perpendicular
to the floor.

Rule #2: Above the knee line, you can take out of the inseam or the outseam
as long as the grainline remains centered on the leg.

Rule #3: Below the knee line, you MUST take the same amount out of inseam
and outseam. This keeps one of the major balances of the pants.

Rule #4: You must take out the same amounts from front and back. This also
keeps the leg balanced, but this time it's a hemline balance... you've got
more muscle in the back of your leg than the front.

So the answer to your question is that you'll wind up opening the seams
as far up as you need to to start the taper. Above the knee, you're just
fitting the pants... just keep the grainline straight and take the same
amount of fabric from front and back. From the knee to the hem, you take the
same amount of fabric from the front and the back AND equal amounts from
inseam and outseam.

Exactly where this alteration starts will depend on the shaping of the
jeans legging.

Kay, who drafts a lot of pants patterns and would sooner make a new pair from
scratch than go through all that with commercial jeans.

Posted by BEI Design on September 19, 2008, 10:52 pm

Kay Lancaster wrote:
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Amen!!!

Beverly, who does occasionally *shorten* RTW jeans for my DD
but she better duck if she wants them pegged!

Posted by Gerald & Donna McIntosh on September 21, 2008, 11:19 am

Thanks to every one for all their ideas! I'd probably would have just
bought
her couple more pairs of jeans but the flare ones she has have only been
worn a couple times and with DD being a short size 0 junior...this will be
easier on my wallet!

Donna in S. Indiana

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