As a very general statement, women's pants patterns on the market might not have enough room in the crotch for trans women, or might show off that area in an unflattering way (for those who haven't had surgery). And only using men's or unisex patterns limits your options quite a bit. That's why one of the first T4Textiles patterns will be women's pants!
However, the new pattern is not ready yet, and even when it is, you might want to equip yourself with the knowledge needed to draft your own styles or alter other patterns. So why not take a look now at exactly what's different about this (in-development) pattern? The pattern pieces outlined in black below are the new T4Textiles pattern, while the red pattern pieces use traditional metric pattern drafting methods, for the same body measurements (in this case, approximately a 36" or 90cm hip circumference).
What's different in the new pattern design?
- The crotch point is moved down on both the front and back leg.
- The crotch point is extended out horizontally on the front leg.
- The crotch curve is much shallower and smoother.
- There is a little extra width in the hip in the back pattern piece.
These changes help achieve the following effects:
- Extending the crotch point makes the crotch less tight.
- The longer, gentler crotch curves help both the center front and center back to not lie quite as flat as a more L-shaped crotch curve would. This is helpful in the back for making your rear end look less flat, and helpful in the front for adding some extra draping of fabric over the crotch area (this works best with pants intended to have extra fabric in front, such as with pleats or gathered elastic waistlines).
- A little extra width in the hip helps make the hips look wider, but be careful - go too far and they will just look baggy. A key here is to make the side seams as curved as you reasonably can (the opposite of what's suggested for men's pants in this earlier article).
To some extent, each of these suggestions are just style and design preferences. As always, do what you want!