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Question with finished trouser measurements

Hi all! The trouser I drafted has a 37“ seat, 31” waist, and a 11” rise. Rory mentioned in the video series that measured it should be 3” more than the measured seat (in this case 40”) but when I measured it, it came out at 40 1/2. While its admittedly not too much of a difference there are two questions I have:

if there is a possible reason it came out 1/2” more and if it being 1/2” more could hypothetically affect the trousers, where could this excess (on the pattern) be reduced? I have seen many tailors let out at the seat line, but if the waist is correct do I take it on the side seam? Or do I just adjust the seat angle a little on point 21-20?
If it’s because of my rise being an 1” taller, does the finished seat-to-measured seat naturally increase when the rise gets taller?
Also if I want my waistband to hit directly on my navel/hip **** line, is 11” a correct or erroneous rise for my height (I’m 5’10)?

Of course, I’m going to have a fitting so these points could possibly get corrected but I did want to ask in case I’m making an error.

Thanks!

6 comments

6 Comments

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David Stocksiefen

Jul 26

Not really much of an answer, but regarding your second question, I noticed a similar thing playing around with different rises (is that the plural?). I think this is due to connecting point 24 to point 14; if point 24 shifts upwards the resulting line (meaning the side seam) hits the seat line in a different location. Although, by that logic, a higher rise should mean slightly less circumference across the seat... Naturally, the position of point 14 (width at the knee) plays the same role, if that shifts to the outside, the side seam also crosses the seat line more to the outside. The way in which I dealt with it (which I don't claim to be correct), is to play around with the size and amount of darts in the waist seam. In your case you might try reducing the amount you are adding for the darts, thus shifting point 24 and with it the side seam more inward, thus slightly reducing the amount over the seat - I hope I don't sound too confusing. No idea if that is a good way of doing things - looking forward to hearing an experts opinion on this and your other questions.

David Stocksiefen

Jul 27

Replying to

I'd personally advise against messing with the seat angle for anything else than what it's meant for (flat/normal/prominent seats). Here's my reasoning behind this: The system for finding the seat angle described in the book and/or video series is actually a great improvement compared to older systems, because it mainly depends on scale (by that I mean point 21 on the draft). The final seat seam (point 23-3a) only changes slightly between a low and a high rise, at least when comparing the patterns I made so far. That may in fact even be intentional, but you'd have to ask Rory about that, he'll know more about it, obviously. In constrast, older systems often find the seat angle by placing a point on the waist line. In that case, the difference between a low and high rise can be massive. Thinking about this, it's actually insane to have a line that is vital for a good fit be dependent on a mere style feature. Considering all that, I would only adjust the angle for dealing with the figure. But maybe someone can correct me on this. I think my explanation about what I did with the darts has been a bit messy. On the draft, point 24 from 23 normally is 1/4 waist + 3 seams + 3/8" ease + 2x 3/4" darts. I suggested something like 1/4 waist + 3 seams + 3/8" ease + 2x 5/8" darts. Thereby the finished waist size remains unchanged, but you have moved the side seam a bit inward. But again, that is just what I have experimented with and I would second what Jeroen has said, 1/2" of extra ease won't hurt anyone. If you are getting less than you should, that would be more of a problem. I just needed to do this once, because I had cut a very wide circumference at the knee and ended up with a lot of excess ease around the seat (I am also basically a skeleton wrapped in skin, so my figure might have played a role). For anything within reason though I would just avoid deviating from the system too much.

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Question with finished trouser measurements