I am very late to this, so I'm not sure this is going to help, but Stevensons are weirdly complicated to fit. It is true that the actual waist measurement is often significantly bigger than the tagged waist size. But the REST of the measurements are (in my opinion) true to size for most bodies. So if you size down to get the waist right, everything else is going to be too tight (especially on the slimmer fits). I always go tagged waist and wear a belt. The upside (and maybe the intention?) is that these are jeans with an attractive fit that aren't agony to sit down in.