I made myself some shorts to cope with Bangkok's sweltering heat (we're going on 3 months of unbearable heat now and I am fed up, y'all.)!
These are the Blank Slate Patterns Oceanside Pants and Shorts, which I won from one of the giveaways during Sew Sweetness' Dress Up Party (thanks for the fun blog event and giveaway, ladies!). I made the shorts version in this drapey, super lightweight denim, lengthened by 4 inches from the shorts line to make them knee length.
Unfortunately, my feelings about these shorts are thus: eeeeeeeehhhhhhhh. They are just not the right fit for me and I am not comfortable in them as a result.
My fit issues: the rise is too low all around, but especially in the back- I wore these around the house and every time I bent over my buttcrack was on display. I also don't like the thin elastic + drawstring combo: too stretchy! I can't get the drawstring tight enough, so the pants are always slipping down. I prefer an elastic waist with a drawstring over the elastic, a la the Hudson pant. I also prefer wider elastic at the waist for comfort reasons. I'm also having some weird and unflattering bunching because of the gathered waist, both in the front and the back. Sigh.
I also found some of the instructions to be a bit odd: the pattern suggests making one, uninterfaced buttonhole for the drawstring. I would recommend (and I made) two buttonholes on either side of the center seam, with interfacing to strengthen them.
Also, the pocket pattern piece is the same for all of the sizes and I found the resulting pockets to be too small. I feel like the pocket should be proportionally bigger for the larger sizes. I strayed away from the pocket design slightly in that I didn't do a two-layered pocket with the little fold-over flap, but rather I folded the pocket inwards at the fold line, tucked all the edges in and topstitched it to the pants. But for my changes I used the seam allowances given for the original pocket method, so it didn't change pocket size.
I wish I liked these more! If the fit had been better for me, I had grand visions of a flowing linen pant version. Oh well, not every pattern works for everybody!
