Ranch House Jeans and New Skills

My focus on this project was to practice new skills while ending with a usable item. I want to alter some very nice, large new ladies pants to a much smaller size. I wanted to practice first.
This pair of  44" waist and very long worn jeans were perfect for practice. I also patched/mended these Ranch House jeans till to give another day of wear.

 44" waist

36" waist, 8" shorter

STEPS:
1. Try on inside out. Pin baste to needed size.
2. Cut off hems.
3. Un-stitch waist bands two inches at side seams.
3. Reinforced outside leg stitching was hard to un-stitch. I cut to to the sides of the stitching and left enough pant leg to reach my needed size.
4. Serge open seams and patches. Top stitch patches before re-stitching seams. Patching is easy this way.
5. Try on. Adjust.
6. Seam waistband to fit new side seams. Top-stitch.

I learned: to use expendable items to practice new skills; to open leg seams when patching jeans; and to
open and seam the waistband back in place. Some new pants already have this type of seam.
When I alter the nice ladies pants I will focus more on fit than I did on these Ranch House jeans.