Jean Muslin: Take 1

I started working on jean pattern yesterday.  I'm working on Connie Crawford's Woman's Jean pattern Butterick B5403.  I was a little leery of starting this because I had read some bad reviews, and still being fairly new at fitting pants I was worried I might be in over my head. 

I chose my size based on my measurements and traced it.  I got a little concerned when I noticed the size I was tracing didn't allow for any ease in the hips.  I know jeans are suppose to be close-fitting, but the pattern was listed for 2 sizes, with no ease at the smaller size which meant -2" of ease at the bigger size.  I thought this had to be a mistake because the folks at Pattern Review kept saying when 2 sizes are listed like that, the pattern should have enough ease for the larger size.  And since my measurement was just an inch smaller than the smaller pattern recommendation I thought it would be ok.  I was wrong.

I didn't make any changes to the pattern yet.  I wanted to see how it was going to fit right out of the package.  The first thing I noticed is it's to tight in the hips.  The other thing that really jumps out at me is the back crotch.  I need to scoop it out a little to get rid of that wedgie, and I might need to add a little to the inner thigh.  The bottom of the back yoke feels really low.    First I'm going to try going up a size and see how that looks.

Back to the cutting table.