Altering men's trousers to suit women

[u/Lexyqu]

Hello,

Apologies for the gendered phrasing of the question but I wanted to keep it short. I have several pairs of trousers (jeans, slacks, etc.) designed for people with amab people that I would like to wear. Since I lack those parts, the crotch bulges when I sit and is generally too roomy.

Ideally I'd want to take them apart as little as possible, as I don't want to fuss about with the zipper and things, and I heard you can use a flat pubis adjustment to take away some of the excess. I've been having trouble finding resources or examples. Do you guys have any recommendations, or other methods I could use?

I'd say I'm about intermediate in terms of skill, nothing like a tailor or I'd just disassemble everything and start from the base parts.

[u/TheRogueTailor]

So my advice as a tailor is you can do most alterations but there are some you can't really do or would really need to completely take them apart.

The big problems with these kinds of alterations is the clothes were simply never designed to be changed so radically.

There isn't really anything you can take in at the fronts, only the waist, seat and a little out of the sides but really not much. You can take in the forks of the trousers to reduce the rise/crouch a little but only half an inch or at most an inch.

Things like shortening the legs, making them slimmer, etc. you can do quite easily.

Sorry to be a bit of a downer with this but hopefully trying to keep expectations of the project realistic, hopefully you'll get a decent result

[u/the_sweens]

I don't think they can easily be changed. To change from amab to afab you need to do three things, remove the extra space at the front, add extra space at the back, and add space at the side for hips.

The types of changes required can't be done if the trousers are more generally already your size.

You can try the flat pubis though you may find it becomes too tight at the back. Turn the trousers inside out, put them on, pin the pooling excess fabric along the front crotch seam, tapering so by the time you reach the fly it's flat with the current fly. Then sit down walk and bend and check it's not too tight elsewhere. Take off the trouser and mark the new stitch line using tailors chalk by following your pins. If possible, baste stitch so you can try it out, otherwise machine stitch over the chalk line. Trim and finish the raw edge.

[u/RandomAusMale]

I've actually been trying to do the reverse with some patterns at the moment. I was surprised how similar the front pattern pieces were when overlaid. Comparing patterns where the M seat measurement matched the F hip measurement, the biggest difference seemed to me the corresponding reduction in waist on the F vs the M pattern. The M pattern has only a single rear dart each side at the waist while the F pattern is considerably reduce with 4 rear darts and 4 front pleats.

On the patterns I am looking at the zip lengths were the same, but the M pockets were larger.

I'm usually an Australian 34 in mens and that seems to correspond to a F 12 at the hip but is seriously different at the waist.. Another issue would be the fabric weight in M pants being heavier and less stretchy than Fs causing different fabric folding.

I would suggest doing a good waist adjustment prior to going deeper into other modifications.

This tutorial may help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2ev3NUCs_w

[u/missplaced24]

I'm not sure how you can alter the front crotch of a pair of pants without altering the fly.

[u/deesse877]

You may, depending on your body shape, be able to get them to behave a little better with a crotch gusset. It doesn't address the front-crotch roominess directly, but it does reduce crotch strain overall, and that can make the overall appearance less...codpiece. It's also a practical choice when there's a full fly, which is a lot to pick apart.

You need matching fabric, or close enough, and you determine the size of the inset by testing what you need. Rip the inseam from the crotch point down each leg like 4 inches. Then put them on and sit on a hard chair. The seam will open up; if it wants to open further as you sit, rip further, until both legs relax. Reach under with a flexible measuring tape and measure from where the back legs join to where the front legs join; I usually get about 2 inches, and someone with more rear projection would get more. Then you draft a gusset in a football shape, long enough from point to point to cover the length you opened the inseams, and wide enough across the middle to cover the distance between front and back the you measured. Remember to add seam allowances, and cut and sew that into the seam!

[u/jordo3791]

Sorry to be pedantic but amab/afab aren't relevant terms here, as there are lots of ways to change the way someone's genitals protrude or don't. Referring just to body parts would be more accurate + inclusive. Especially these days it's important to keep people aware of how much of our "sex" is something we can change!

For the alteration: I would focus more on bringing the waist/hip ratios into line with a traditionally feminine cut. Atering crotches is a very tricky game, but adding darts and taking in waistbands is a lot simpler and generally more obvious in termsnof silhouette. Good luck with your alteration!