I think I have designed a great fitting pair of pants, which I will make up in linen for summer. It only took 2 muslins and 2 pattern drafts to get a decent fit.
I have always had a problem with pants getting hung up on my calf, I didn't know there is an adjustment for such issues called a "Prominent Calf Adjustment". This is probably why I always favored a wide leg pant, because with the wide leg, the fabric doesn't get caught up on the calf.
This is what the adjustment looks like.
Just the back leg is sliced through the middle and then to the sideseam mark, then slit through the seam allowance but not sliced through entirely, the sliver left serves as a hinge for the adjustment. When I made the muslin and saw the fabric resting on the calf, I opened the side seams from the knee down and observed the gap left when the fabric was left to drape. For me this turned into a 3" adjustment at the hemline. This is how I determined the adjustment measurement. To be frank, I thought this would end up making the pant look like bell bottoms, but they don't. From the front and back they hang straight and from the side they skim the line of the leg.
I wasn't ready to cut into the dark teal linen to match the jacket, so this linen from a fabricmart bundle was my wearable muslin.
These still need to be hemmed, and the waistband needs to be popped on, but I'm having a little fun with these details. The waistband will be overlapped at the waist, and the hem will not be turned up but left with the serged edge. They do not have pockets at the waist, so I elected to pop a patch pocket on the leg, because girls always need storage. They are lined from the waist to the knee, because the linen is very lightweight.
I'm trying to make an effort when I draft and design now to really be mindful of what I am looking for in a pant. That they skim the body, are comfortable, have minimum bulk at the waist, but still have pockets. From here I can start adding other details to change things up a bit.
