Making jeans that fit from jeans that don't!

So, wanting a pair of jeans to fit me the way I want them to, I decided to buy a pair of jeans, too big in every way, and then scale them down to my size.

Here are the jeans I bought. Loose fit, about 4" too big in the waist, waaay too long, waay too wide...

I used the appropriate topstitching thread... I cut away the front, leaving the center front seam intact. I cut away the back, leaving above the yoke intact.