My first thought is if you pull up the extra length at the waist - won't that shorten the crotch area?? Or are they too long in the seat, too......

I'm trying to picture the overall construction. Let's see, the pants were made, the skirt was made - then the skirt & pants were stitched together at the very top - then folded over to form the waistband elastic casing. Yes??

--if-- this is the way - then......
carefully remove only the stitching that forms the elastic casing - fold this out - the skirt & pants are still stitched together along that top edge - before cutting, run a line of stitching just below your cut line <<say you want to cut off 2"...then run a line of stitching at 2 1/4">> - then cut just above the stitching - fold over and stitch for your elastic casing

Did that help? Or am I totally off base... ;-)

~E

could you put a channel in the lower legs, from just bellow the knee to the hem and put a drawstring in? It will raise the hem at the inseam but you won't have to cut off the bells and it will be adjustable to different heights. I dont think shortening the waist will make change the inseam enough to notice.

Can you get under the overskirt? If so, could you take them up at the upper thigh so that the seam would be covered by the overskirt?
My sister did this with a pair of too-long Melodias and it worked quite well.

Okay...I may have given the wrong idea...it's in the crotch that they're too long...I can pull them up at the waist and they're good...but they hang down about two inches too much in the crotch area when not pulled up.

The skirt and pants are attached at the waist, up under the skirt, but the elastic is not in a casing...so I can fold the material up and sew it, but it's very awkward...that's kind of my problem...I *could* remove the skirt, fold the waistband over, and stitch it, then sew the skirt back on, but I'm afraid that my limited sewing skills will end up messing the whole thing up...so I'd prefer to not have to remove the skirt.

These are the pants...www.thebellydanceshop.com/proddetail.php been able to wear them, cuz the skirt is long enough with the drawstrings down at the longest length to cover the problem...but they're just uncomfortable...I don't like having saggy crotch...*giggle*