"Amazing" fit for who?

I'm definitely going to try to attempt pants with the Cupcake Goddess's sewalong, but I figured that since I have a couple of "Amazing Fit" Simplicity patterns, I'd just use one of them instead of the Burda pattern.

I like the idea of including a "slim," "normal," and "curvy" pattern piece, but their method for choosing which to use isn't exactly working for me. The directions tell you to pick your pattern size from your waist and hip measurements as usual, then to use your total crotch length and your back crotch length to determine curviness. OK, measurements taken, and the problem is my total crotch length measurement is 29 1/2". The longest crotch length measurement included is 28 1/2", for a size 22 curvy. My measurements are for a size 14, and I tend to make a size 12 because a 14 has way too much ease for me. A size 14 curvy is supposed to have a 26" crotch length, and the slim is 25". The one inch difference between slim and curvy just isn't cutting it for me, when I'm 3 and a half inches longer than the curvy. Now, I'll readily believe that I should make the curvy pattern, but there's no way I'm super excessively curvy.

The issue, I'm sure, is how high my waist is. If I have to cover an extra inch or two in length to get up to my waist, double that for front and back and there's the difference. So how to determine which pattern piece? I'm pretty sure I'll end up making the curvy one, but I'd like to be right, you know?

I've got two ways to attack this. One is using crotch depth - sit down on a chair and measure from waist to the chair seat. That should tell me how high my waist is. The problem is, how do I translate that to the default they're using?

So I'm going to look at total crotch length and back crotch length. They each vary by a half inch per slim/normal/curvy step, so all the curviness is taking place in the back crotch. So, to account for extra waist height decrease my total crotch length by 2x, decrease the back crotch length by x, and find where they'll match with the listed dimensions. I'll try a size 14 since that is what my measurements indicate, and we're theoretically just dealing with body measurements and not and ease just yet.

My measurements: TCL_mine=29.5, BCL_mine=16.75.

So match TCL_curvy=26 for the 14, subtract 3.5 from TCL_mine. So that means I should subtract 1.75 from BCL_mine and I get 15. Their listing for a 14 BCL_curvy is 14.75, so this may work.

Just for kicks, try the size 12: TCL_curvy=25.5, so I'm subtracting 4 inches. Take 2 inches from BCL_mine and get 14.75. BCL_curvy=14.5 for a 12.

Side note: is my waist really (almost) two inches higher than normal? I know I have a long torso, but is it really that much? I wish wish wish that the pattern companies would list all the default measurements that they use, so I could compare mine to theirs and see what I should have to adjust that way. Maybe it's time to try out one of those fitting patterns... Except that the Vogue pants fitting pattern I have says that the normal crotch depth for a 12 is 11 5/8" and for a 14 it's 11 7/8", while mine is 11", so I actually have a short waist-crotch length? I'm so confused. I'm just going to make the curvy, since I know at least my thighs are wide, and we'll see how it fits in the muslin.