Tips for Fitting Pants

When making this pair of pants, I realized that I had extra fullness in the back thigh area just below the full hip and above the ankle. This is a brief overview of the steps I took to get a better custom fit for my model:

Here, it's important to remember that we will be working from the crotch---up.
When starting with the muslin, sew the side seams Wrong Side to Wrong Side so that any changes will be easier to change. This will be a "draping" type of fitting process (where you work from the fabric and THEN go back to the paper pattern).

To reduce the amount of fabric in the back hips, make sure that everything else fits correctly. Pin out  excess in leg, tapering to the full hip until you find the right fit.

• Take off muslin
• Remove stitching from the -in seam- starting at the crotch seam all the way to the last pin that you just inserted to fit the bottom of the leg
• Measure the width of that pinned dart at the crotch line, then double that measurement with a seam gauge
• Transfer this amount to the inseam and mark w/ a pin
• Slide the back in-seam forward the amount of the total dart width that you just marked, letting the extra fabric Exit through the seam (this modification shortens the back crotch seam and, in the process, eliminates the fabric that you don't want or need). This moves that dart amount to the seam instead of sewing a dart in the middle of the leg. This is good for pants that you're making for the 1st time OR for pants that you already own since all we're doing is taking away from the side seam!