Hey guys! I am excited to have found this forum. I have been looking far and wide for the perfect pair of jeans. I am really tall, standing at 6'4". I have found that my backside, and my thighs are a bit on the larger side, although I only weigh in at 210. I have a heck of a time finding perfect fitting jeans! My ideal pair of jeans are straight in the leg, fitting around a pair of van's authentics, which still displaying the laces! The way a jean fits around the shoe are the deal breaker for me. I have tried on preshrunk 501's in the past, but they just fit so fight on my hips and backside. When I read about being able to shrink my own 501's, I just knew I had to try it! My mom had bought a pair for me a few years back, saying they were all the rage when she was growing up. They were so course, and stiff. I tried them on, and had them returned later, because they just looked/felt weird. Little did I know they would shrink so much. I recently decided that I was sick of wearing jeans that didn't fit right, didn't break in, and all the pairs I had, with the exception of one were so hard to access the pockets, because of how taut my hips and butt pull the fabric. I just bought my first pair of STFxx Levi 501's and I couldn't be more excited. I did my research and read up on Ned's guide, which I am so thankful for. I filled up the tub, and hopped in! I let soak for about 20 minutes, and then went for a long walk. It was about 8 p.m. but I just couldn't wait to start breaking in these bad boys. I bought my pair size 38x36. I normally wear 36x34, but I want a big of a baggier feet in the seat and thigh, but still really want that straight feeling in the legs, and am hoping they extra waist size should do nicely with accessing the pockets. One thing I thought to do on my own, is when I went for my walk, I took 3 decks of car. I put one in my back pocket, where I normally have my wallet, then I put a deck of cards in each of the side pockets, to hopefully stretch them out a big for where I keep my cell phone/wallet. I can't wait to see how my 501's turn out. I'll let you all know!
Regards!
Eric Jett