Patrones Thai-inspired pants made into shorts

This was one of those projects where the fabric lead the way.  I bought  this fabric at The Fabric Store in Brisbane, a couple of weeks ago.  I think it is a poly-viscose blend.  It has a heavy drape, sort of like crepe.  I loved the fabric, but the colour doesn't love me, so I went ahead a purchased it not knowing exactly what I was going to do with it, but knowing it either needed to be combined with another fabric or confined to my lower half.  I had a couple of Patrones magazines with me, and settled on some swishy shorts.

 The Fabric - poly / viscose blend from The Fabric Store

The pattern: No 31 from Patrones 326.  Obviously, I made some changes.  I cut them off into shorts.  I put an invisible zipper opening in one side, and only made a thin waistband, which I sewed over all the pleats, rather than having an opening at the wide flap (well, at least, I think this is what Patrones intended - I couldn't be sure).  I had a bit of trouble with the pleats.  On each side, there is a wider pleat sitting over the top of an inverted pleated.  I fiddled and fussed with the pattern, and then the muslin, but could not get it to work like the photograph.  I wanted the fullness from the pleats to give me the swishy effect, which it did even without looking like the photo, so I just forged ahead without getting it right.  I added an in-seam pocket on the side seam that didn't have the zipper.  The overall effect is more like a skort than shorts, and skorts seem to be having a moment just now.

When I was half-way through construction, I noticed this page in Vogue Australia's February edition.  It looks as though Marni and Bianca Spender have similar pants in their line-up, so if you have been lusting after such a style, it is probably worth getting your hands on this edition of Patrones.

I wan thinking that they would be summer shorts, but they seem to pair better with more autumnal tops.  In the above photos, I paired them with an unblogged top from last year - kill 2 birds with one blog post, so to speak.  The pattern is the Sloppy Josephine Tee by Papercut Patterns.  It was a bit of a disaster.  I made a medium, according to the size chart.  It was unwearable.  I took in all the seams., which make it more like a small.  The neckline is still so low and wide that it is indecent.  I need to layer a top underneath, but I don't have one the right colour (it is on the list).  It does look like the photo on the front of the pattern, so I should not have been too surprised - I had just seen other blog versions which seemed to fit okay.  I made another version of this pattern, using a wide neckband, which I do wear, but the proportions look off.  I haven't given up on this pattern yet though - perhaps version 3 will be just right.