Lander Pants pair 3!

I've downsized each time when making the Landers. By no means were my first two pairs unwearable, but the fit is looser than I would like around the waist and hips. The differences between the sizing brackets are pretty subtle and having a 1" side seam allowance to play around with gave me a little more confidence to downsize again, this time cutting a 4.

From top: Size 8, Size 6 and Size 4

With this pair, I've finally achieved the snug hip/waist fit I was going for, but what I wasn't fully prepared for was the knock on affect that this would have on the fit in other areas. It turns out that when wearing them, they aren't particularly comfortable in the crotch area - like sitting down in them all day at work is just not fun. Thinking about yourself as having a 'long crotch' is quite weird isn't it? So thanks go to the Closet Case Patterns pants fitting adjustments guide which made me feel a bit more confident in diagnosing and accepting this area of mis-fit.

Pictures by my friend Alex

I wish I'd found this trouser fitting bible sooner in my naive quest for proper-fitting Landers. Here are the things from it that I'll be addressing in Lander Pants pair four (and I'm determined they'll be my perfect pair):

1) A low seat adjustment for my flat bum (yes I noticed this with previous pairs, but one thing at a time).
2) Lengthening the crotch!
3) Using a curved waistband to avoid the slight gaping at the back.
4) And... using the pocket piece/positioning of the smaller sizes as I think they look just too big on the bum of the size 4.

My slightly baggy pair two worn for a weekend in London

In good news, I've found that a heavier denim works really well for jean Landers and I'd definitely use it again in future. I know I need to add a good few inches to the cropped view to make them that perfect 'Insta-fashionista' ankle boot-skimming length - though I'm tempted to just go full length next time - and I've got better at inserting the jean buttons each time. Interfacing the right hand fly piece helped (the pattern doesn't specifically instruct to do this) and using proper quality Prym buttons with Prym pliers made the task much easier.

Buttons on pair 2

One thing I still don't get is how do people do neat button holes for jeans? I used the automatic buttonhole function on my machine which was fine, but once opened, they seem to just look messy and frayed. I ended up going over the machine stitching by hand just to make sure it was secured in place. If anyone has any tips or could point me in the right direction that would be fab!
So I'm clearly not done with this pattern just yet. And I hate to admit it, but I definitely should've done a muslin at the start. I'm convinced by looking at the Instagram hashtag that the Landers suit/look cool on just about anyone, I just need to finish finding that balance between fit and comfort with mine, but I think I'm getting there...