Greetings fabbers, it's been a while! 

Since I lost weight during Covid I’ve been attempting to rebuild my wardrobe of jeans and pants. They are wardrobe essentials for me; I rarely wear dresses/skirts. I prefer styles with a zipper and waistband and hardly ever wear pull-on styles or elastic waists. I prefer straight or slight bootleg. I no longer want skinnies and don’t like wide legs or crops on me.

I have a recurring fit issue: when I get a good fit for my thighs, the rise is too high, leading to a pleat across the crotch area and the waistband digging into my ribs when I sit; both are unpleasant to look at and feel awful. I don’t mind a little bit of the pleat and high waistband but the majority of ones I try on have these issues quite severely.

I need a front rise of 9.5-10” give or take. 5+ years ago, "mid-rise" met that measurement at least some of the time. Over the last few years as high rise styles have taken over,  the definition of “mid-rise” seems to have shifted upward to 10.5” – 12” or so. I’ve looked at low-rise but they tend to be wide leg jeans or similar that I don’t find flattering on me. Rises of 9.5-10" are extremely rare. 

I have only a few styles that work in my wardrobe and I’ve done a lot duplication. Last fall/winter I gave up searching, but now I’m on the hunt again. I’ve been trying to find chino//utility pants in olive green, full length, with a 9.5”-10” rise and straight legs. It's apparently not a trendy style since many brands don't do anything like this, and the ones that do have a too-high rise.   *** (see below for status of my hunt).

So …. I’m back to considering alterations. 

Would love to hear about your experiences with this type of alteration, ideas etc and any other words of wisdom

I have in mind 3 different ways to lower the rise of pants/jeans. I do not know a tailor I’d trust with this and I don’t know how to find such a tailor. I am a good seamstress so might be willing to tackle it myself.

1. The way a tailor would do it - remove belt loops and waistband, cut some off the top of body of the pants, take in the side seams a little, and reattach the waistband. The part I do not know how to deal with is shortening the zipper. I’ve seen a few YouTube videos on this so need to study them more
2.  A hack I’ve done a few times, where you take the inseam in a small amount, from right leg hem to crotch to left leg hem, or from knee to crotch to knee. The cheat way is to make a seam next to the existing one (much easier to do esp if the inseam is a flat felled seam). The other way is to take apart the inseam, take it in, then put things back together. I’ve found this alteration can only be done up to ½” or the shape/proportions of the pants get out of whack. 
3. Another hack I’ve thought about but not tried: cut the waistband in half, leaving a much thinner one than you started with. Need a way to finish the raw edge. Would work ok if the pants have two hook closures but if it’s jut a single button would need to create a new buttonhole and move the button. Not going to try this one just yet…. but I have a pair of Athleta Brooklyn pants (pull on with a wide elastic waistband) that I might try this on to make the very wide/uncomfortable waistband thinner