Pattern Testing: the Quadra Jeans from Thread Theory

I’m rarely one to raise my hand for pattern testing – I don’t like to sew something if I don’t know that it’s “me”, I’d prefer not to waste time on something until the kinks have been ironed out, and there’s usually a really tight turnaround time that I can’t meet. Oh, and I like to be honest. Having said that, when I saw Thread Theory put out a call for menswear testers, I volunteered. I sew a lot for my husband and we have our TNT patterns, but I’m always looking for something new and interesting.

The pattern is the Quadra jeans, designed to be similar to a Levis 502 low-rise style.  I used a sturdy non-stretch denim I had in my stash that was originally from Mood Fabrics.  According to the size chart, his 32” waist and 39” hip put him squarely in a size 32, which is what I cut and sewed for testing's sake. I also sewed it following the original instructions, also in the name of pattern testing.

It came together pretty quickly as I’ve made many a pair of jeans. The end result – there were some unsurprising issues with the fit.  At the time of testing (update: final size chart is the same), the size 32 had a finished waistband measurement of 36 ¼” - ??  So I suspected it would be too big, and it was too big. Each size has a finished waist measurement 4” bigger than the actual waist. Now, I understand they are low-rise and every body is different, but Tim’s low waist (measured using the rise) is only about 34” (which is why I wasn’t surprised they were too big). 

Positives: they look good from the back! And Tim liked the cut of the leg, it’s slim but not skinny for those men with athletic legs that can’t squeeze into RTW skinny jeans but don’t want to wear “Dad jeans”. (Tim didn't like the low pockets, but they look good at least.)

Tim was also concerned about the description as "low-rise", but as you can see, they're not that low.  He thought wearing them might require, and I quote, "pube fluffing", but they actually do not require manscaping of any kind.
  

I know the center back yokes are slightly off. See my rant below about the order of construction. 

Some other issues – look, the instructions are fine and the pants came together in the end. But I DO NOT LIKE the order of construction. The good news is, if you’ve made jeans before you don’t have to follow the instructions and you can do it your way! But if you’re new to jeans, the construction is made more difficult than it needs to be. 

What you end up with is a right leg and left leg. THEN you sew the front fly – the fly extension is attached as a separate piece, not cut on (as I personally prefer). THEN you try and topstitch the front fly and THEN you try and topstitch from the center back to the base of the fly, all while the pants are basically fully assembled. This is a pain in the ass.  Compared to how I prefer to do it, which is make a front pants working flat, make a back pants working flat, sew them along the inseam and side seam.  My fly topstitching is wonky here because it just was so much to wrangle in the machine and I only did one row of topstitching along the center back because I was so irritated with it. 

I’m not sure what we’re gonna do with this pair – maybe deconstruct them and use them later for something else.   Since it looks like the final version contains the same size chart as my tester, I recommend considering the final garment measurements and a man's low waist measurement for a good fit.