The Misery of High-Waisted Pants
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CEFR Level C1-C2
If you’ve missed it, high-waisted trousers are all the rage in Spring 2026. I eagerly await the return of mid-rise pants. Why?
I’m 4 feet 11 inches (149.86 cm) tall. Even petite high-waisted pants come up to my bra band. I feel like I’m walking around with a tube around my torso. Plus, who wants double fabric over their body in the hot and humid summer? For both comfort and visual proportions, I prefer pants that sit somewhere between my hipbones and my navel. If I pull the high-waisted pants down to a comfortable level, then the crotch is half-way down my thighs. That leads to chafing.
Unfortunately, all my summer pants needed replacing this year. I can sew some, but it’s a time commitment and sometimes, I just want to buy a good-enough pair and be done with it.
I happened to be near JCPenney during a sale and found St. John’s Bay cotton gauze pants in the petite section. It’s rare to find petite pants that fit a 49-inch (124.46) hip, so I snatched up two colors.
I dislike the proportions with the shirt tucked in. Regardless, even if I tried to wear the pants pulled all the way up, the waistband doesn't pull tight enough for them to stay there.
Despite my dressing-room attempt to mimic real-life movement, these pants are annoying in daily life. The waistband doesn’t get tight enough, so it always slides down until my hips stop it. That leads to a dropped crotch. Then my thighs chafe from either rubbing each other or from friction from the seam. I could stand around trying to pooch out my stomach to hold them at a decent height, but who wants to do that, even if I could maintain the unnatural position?
These are comfortable for lounging, but I wanted something cool to run errands in during the summer. These are cool, but I feel sloppy wearing them.
This is after alterations. I wore this to a chorale concert on one of those April days where you didn't know if it would be 80 F or 60 F inside or out. That blue t-shirt? I drafted the pattern using SewHere's Easy T instructions (no longer available), then altering the pattern to be a V-neck. The fabric is from Boho Fabrics. I believe it is the Slub Sea Blue Cupro Knit.
I spent three hours unpicking the waistband and pockets on the blue pair. I spent another two attaching them lower. This worked great for putting the crotch at a comfortable level so that there is fabric between my thighs. It also put the waistband at a comfortable level right below my navel and high enough in back that I can squat without showing more than I want. Unfortunately, I ended up with a pouf of fabric between the waistband and my hips in back. There are a few possibilities for how to fix this, but I’m out of energy to deal with it. I’ll just wear a shirt long enough to cover it.
I’m still debating if it’s worth my time to alter the green pair. In five hours, I could have a new custom-fitted pair a third finished.
Although there is no comfort like that of custom-fitted clothing, I long for the day when I can just buy comfortable clothes when I need them. Maybe one day, there will be a clothing designer for curvy people under five feet tall who are “plus” below the waist but not above. There really is a gap for curvy petite plus clothing where the “plus” means big hips not big breasts. There’s an even bigger gap for people with adult bodies who are five feet and shorter. I await the day when someone fills this gap.
Update July 2026
I did end up altering the olive pair. Lowering the waistband on this style helped, but the drawstring doesn’t pull tight enough. These still sink down and give me a dropped crotch, which leads to chafing if I walk too much. Overall, they’re fine, but I wouldn’t buy another pair if I had the opportunity to sew my own. Also, I’ve learned that I prefer the look and feel of a real waistband and zipper for my leave-the-house trousers.
I’ve also learned not to reduce the size of outfit photos taken on my phone. The trade off for the page loading more slowly is that the photos aren’t blurry.